LOVE
by Unknown123190
Summary: Zack, being the good friend that he is, wants his friends to be happy. Sephiroth likes honest, hard-working people and Cloud idolizes the General. Can you guess what happens next? rated for future scenes
1. Chapter 1

**First chapter of my second story on this website...yay! I'm going more straight forward with this one...anyway**

**Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you enjoy my work, readers, and please RnR =) xox**

Cloud Strife was obsessed with General Sephiroth ever since his ninth birthday when there had been a news special on the "Demon of Wutai" on television that very day. He'd watched the man manoeuvre himself amongst thousands of monsters, cutting them down with one smooth swing of his long, thin sword. His silver hair had flown around his handsome face, green cat-like eyes sparkling dangerously. Thrills had run up the young boy's spine and he bit his lip to keep from squealing when there was a small section where the man was shirtless.

His promise to Tifa, his childhood friend, had only been a small part of why he'd decided to leave his hometown of Neibelheim and go to Midgar to join the SOLDIER program – the one Sephiroth partook in. He wanted to see the Demon of Wutai in person, train with him, maybe even be partner one day. Was it a foolish dream? Yes; but it was a dream nonetheless. A dream is something to reach out for, to fight for, to live for. It's necessary to leading a good life, or at least Cloud thought so.

When he arrived in Midgar, he didn't have much and he didn't know much about fighting either. He went straight to the Shinra building without making any stops and, as soon as he was in the cool lobby, surrounded by SOLDIERS and businessmen, he proclaimed that he was ready to become a SOLDIER. The receptionist at the time, Kori, smiled awkwardly and pulled Cloud over to the side before the dark glares cast at him by the others dampened his fiery spirit. She gave him a thick document for him to fill – the document to enrol into the SOLDIER program. He filled it in excitedly under her gaze and once he was done, she claimed the document once more and promised she'd contact him within a week with an answer from the higher-ups. Since Cloud, being a true country boy, did not have a cell phone, she was nice enough to give him the address to an inn of which she knew the phone number so she would call there. He smiled gratefully and waved goodbye as he ran out of the building.

Three days later, Cloud got a call saying he was accepted in the program and was awaited for his first class at six the following morning. And so began Cloud Strife's life at Shinra.

Cloud did not meet Sephiroth during the entire first year he had the pleasure to train at Shinra with the other cadets. He did, however, become friends with another first class named Zachary Fair – Zack for short -, who had the talent to lift his spirits even on the darkest of days or after the worst of exams. Cloud was grateful for Zack, for he did not have many friends at Shinra; he was generally a quiet boy who didn't socialize unless it was necessary. The other cadets ignored him at times and chatted idly with him at best when they were in a good mood. As Cloud spent more time at the military facility, Tifa began going further and further inside his mind until she almost disappeared. No matter if she sent letters almost every day. He read them once, put them down in his nightstand and forgot all about them.

It was a month before the SOLDIER exams and the cadets were nervous, spending most of their free time sparring with one another or studying for the written part of the exam. Cloud, who excelled surprisingly well at fighting, only had to bother with the written part of the exam and spent the rest of his time with Zack in LOVELESS avenue next to a pickup truck. That's where they were at that moment, their backs pressed against the dirty bricks of the old building behind them, watching strangers walk past them. Zack had changed out of his SOLDIER uniform and wore casual clothes while Cloud was still wearing his. It was rather itchy.

"You'll do fine, Spiky. You kick ass at swordsmanship. Damn, I wish Sephiroth would get a second out of his work to come see you. He'd be impressed, no doubt," Zack laughed, swinging his arms very monkey-like. Cloud smiled but a blush spread across his pale cheeks.

"Why would he want to watch a cadet like me?" Cloud laughed half-heartedly.

"Because he admires honest, hard-working people who know how to use a sword. He's much nicer once you know him, I swear," Zack chuckled.

Cloud thought about that. He was hard-working, yes, and very focused as well. Nothing was more important to him than to make it to SOLDIER and do his best for Shinra. He was honest, sure, and extremely goal-oriented in every sense of the word. Did he know his way around a sword? He wasn't a master swordsman like Sephiroth, of course, but his teacher seemed impressed and the other cadets seemed averted to sparring with him whenever weapons were in play. Was he, Cloud…Sephiroth's 'type'? The thought made him laugh inwardly. It sounded so unreal!

"I don't know. Besides, the General is really busy right? No use messing up his schedule. He must not get a lot of sleep," Cloud mused to himself. He could imagine the silver-haired man prowling the battlefield during the day and completing mountains of paperwork at night.

"He sleeps about two hours a night, but he's infused with mako so it doesn't really affect him. And yeah, but he cleared off a few things to assist the SOLDIER exams next month. He seemed kind of pumped about it."

Knowing that his idol would be watching him as he fought against some unknown enemy made Cloud slightly nervous and he felt his stomach flip and turn uncomfortably. He pushed his hair back, feeling hot all of a sudden. Zack had walked off a few feet and was scavenging through a trashcan like a street dog, throwing things behind him in his search.

"What are you doing?" Cloud snorted. Suddenly Angeal's nickname for him, Puppy, made a load more sense.

"I thought I saw something shiny," Zack whined miserably, flipping a banana peal off his head – how it had gotten there was beyond him.

"What are you, a bird?" Cloud asked irritably. Zack turned around, his face covered in grime, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"What are you, a hedgehog?" he countered with just as much irritability.

Zack and Cloud continued to argue uselessly about this and that until the sun sunk behind the tall skyscrapers of Midgar city and the sky turned as black as ink. They returned to the barracks, nudging each other playfully. When they reached the door, Zack began to pout.

"Don't leave me alone, Spiky! Let me cuddle with you in your bed," he begged, much to Cloud's embarrassment; people were beginning to stare crookedly, whispering to one another.

"No! Now go to your room and I'll see you tomorrow," said Cloud sternly. Zack continued to pout until he was officially shooed off by the cadet's sword, which he always wore strapped to his back. He pelted into the safety of the Shinra building, panting.

As he was making his way to his quarters, Zack noticed Sephiroth standing in the middle of the hallway, rigid and still and looking haunted. There were dark circles around his mako-infested eyes and his shoulders were stooping low as they never had before. He was just staring openly at the ceiling, mouth slightly agape. Zack snuck his way over to the General, but it was useless; the General was so out of it that he couldn't see anything around him. Zack poked Sephiroth in the side and the man snapped out of it suddenly, groaning.

"What do you want, Zachary?" he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I was making sure you were alive!" Zack piped up, slapping Sephiroth in the back. The man grunted and rubbed his shoulder as if that had hurt; Zack knew better.

"I'm fine, Zachary," the General stated dully.

"Sure you are," the first class SOLDIER rolled his eyes. The General sure was horrible at lying, really. Thankfully, Sephiroth didn't give a damn what Zack thought.

"I've just been…" the General paused.

"Feeling lonely?" Zack guessed in a serious tone. Sephiroth raised an eyebrow and stared at him before letting a small smile spread across his face.

"Maybe," he chuckled lowly to himself.

A picture of the blushing blonde cadet popped inside Zack's head and an idea formed itself in his surprisingly smart mind. Cloud was exactly what Sephiroth admired in someone and Cloud, he knew, even though he hadn't told him, thought highly of the silver-haired General. Plus, Cloud was just so adorable! He felt a little twinge in his chest at the idea of giving the cadet to the General, but Sephiroth needed it way more than he did. He, Zachary Fair, would the Ultimate Matchmaker. Oh yes, watch out Cloud and Sephiroth.

"I know someone you might like to meet…" Zack smiled.

**...Zack's funny XD if you have any ideas btw, please flash em by me. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for all your comments, it's highly appreciated. Whomever offered the "park" idea, thanks, I did take the idea :P Now I dont know if this is funny (im quite awful at judging my own humor) but I kinda gotta juggle romance, cute and comedy. I try to put em all together and hope the result is good!!**

**Happy reading**

**(btw I do NOT own final fantasy vii, or any other kind of final fantasy, unfortunately. I wish I did but hey, terrorists wish we'd all die and santa wishes we'd all be bad so he could be lazy all year. if everyone got their wish, we'd be FUCKED UP)**

General Sephiroth hated Saturdays. On Saturdays, Hojo and a dozen or so of his lab assistants would come into his quarters, without knocking or giving him slightest warning, and conduct a series of experiments on him. He hated the third Saturday of every month even more because then he would get a series of injections that, even though he hated to admit it, stung like a bitch. Hojo shrugged when Sephiroth asked what it was all for and laughed when he threatened to cut him down unless he stopped. Hojo's assurance scared Sephiroth so much that he wouldn't attack the scientist out of fear of what he _could _do, hypothetically of course.

"Good morning General," the wicked scientist chuckled and rubbed his hands together. The lab assistants ran around him, clipboards and needles in their hands, getting ready for the injections.

Sephiroth may be wary of Hojo but he still didn't care to be polite with him, so he didn't greet him back. The scientist didn't care at all whether the General answered him or not, it was fun to him to tease the man's mental stability which, he knew, was on the verge of a breakdown. As long as Sephiroth continued to do his job, he didn't give a damn, actually.

A freckle-faced woman slid the first needle in the silver-haired man's right arm after wiping a small spot with alcohol and a swab of cotton. She was one of the nicer nurses, who came in pairs along with the lab assistants, one of the only ones he recognized at all. She, at least, bothered to tell him when she would be putting the needle in and smile when it was done. He was a bit ashamed that he had no idea who she was.

Hojo examined a vial of his blood and slid it into a portable machine he always carried around like a pet. The thing beeped, flashed, and a long list of complicated results appeared in front of the head scientist. The man hummed, cursed, whistled and finally turned to his patient with the results.

"Your mako levels are way off the charts," he explained, annoyance laced in his tone. He did not look like one happy camper.

"Why is that?" the General inquired. The nurse finished another injection and frictionned the injection spot with her thumb. The pinching feeling diminished.

"High levels of stress and depression can do that to you. Your hormones mess with the mako in your body and it reacts strongly, multiplying much faster than it should. Deal with it, General, or you'll have to go through a very painful surgery to reduce your levels. And I'm not wasting money to get an anaesthetist in here, so believe me, it will hurt like you're never hurt before," said Hojo before bursting out laughing. Clearly, this amused him. The nurse looked horrified and her mouth hung half open like fish's.

The lab assistants, the nurses and Hojo left his quarters alone to think about what he'd just been told. There was a fresh pile of paperwork waiting on his desk but at least he had the day off, as he did most Saturdays. He'd always wondered what would happen if he did not complete the paperwork. Would Shinra fall apart? Would SOLDIERs start dying the next day? Odds were nothing would change. They gave him paperwork to fill in the spots when he was alone to make it so he didn't feel any loneliness. Stupid plan, he did. Sephiroth, although he was not of human genetics, was human alright. Humanity is in one's head, not in one's DNA. That's what Zack had told him at Neibelheim that had caused him to snap out of his murderous haze and back to reality before he could cause any more damage.

He remembered abruptly that Zack had invited him – no, forced him into – go for a walk in the park with him. It sounded gay, yes, but nice as well. The fresh air and the company might help him relax and avoid getting an overly painful surgery led by Hojo. He put on his usual clothes, his uniform, the only clothes Shinra gave him, and made his way out of the Shinra building.

It was astounding to him to see all those little cadets and 3rd and 2nd class look up at him like he was actually some kind of great hero of legends come to Earth to save them. They had no idea that he was a monster, created to destroy, and that he almost tried to destroy their precious planet. Was his good swordsmanship and leadership a reason to admire him? How petty, he thought glumly. One should be admired for their honour, their pride and their quality of work.

The park was surely the cleanest place in Midgar. The air, polluted as it was everywhere else in Midgar, was being filtered by small but powerful air filters than gave the impression you were plunging into a bubble of fresh air. The trees were being artificially grown and were green even when it was freezing cold outside. Flowers grew on the ground now, thanks to Zack's friend, Aerith, who now came up from under the Plate to sow flowers in Midgar. He'd never met her but she sounded like quite an unusual girl. The sky that day was clear blue, devoid of any fluffy white masses. The one and only pond was swarmed with coloured fish and water spiders that skidded on the surface of the liquid pool, almost too fast for the General to spot.

"Hey, Sephiroth! I was so sure you'd take paperwork over fun."

It was Zack, obviously. That wasn't new or interesting. What was rather fascinating to the cat-eyed General was the small cadet that dragged along behind him in what seemed to be a shy manner. The boy held his head high and his eyes reflected an assurance that Sephiroth could not help but agree with. He hadn't seen such an honourable attitude in such a young man in a long time and it was as refreshing as the filtered park air. The cadet's hair was light blonde and spiky in every sense of the word; the color complimented his piercing blue eyes perfectly. He was small, but his body was well built and there were muscles where muscles ought to be. Zack knew all this and also knew that the General would notice all that in an instant.

Phase One: Show off Spiky to Mr. Lonely! complete.

"Yes Zachary, paperwork is such a pile of fun," he sighed.

Zack arched an eyebrow and patted the General on the shoulder.

"Is that sarcasm I detect? Has Hojo been messing with your head again?"

Cloud, who had been stored safely behind the SOLDIER ever since they'd exited the Shinra building, decided to step out from behind him and stand tall. He wondered how the Demon of Wutai would respond to Zack's relentless teasing and prayed the man wouldn't dismember his best friend. Zack could be a huge handful if you didn't have a _massive _reserve of patience in store and a divine ability to tune out idiotic comments.

"Oh, right. This is Cloud," Zack pointed to the rigid cadet, "And Cloud, this is the General. You know, the one YOU ADMIRE SO MUCH," he shouted.

Cloud hissed and punched Zack's shoulder with less gentleness than he should have. Zack was stuck in between laughing hard and crying in pain, which turned into a snorkelling kind of sound that made both other men look away in shame. When the black-haired SOLDIER finally calmed down, Cloud had turned sufficiently red that he resembled closely a tomato.

"So, Cadet, why do you admire me so?"

Cloud snapped to attention and flushed some more. Zack, being the bright Puppy that he was, took the distraction to slip away into a rose bush to leave the two alone. Unfortunately, he was also somewhat stupid, so he went into a rose bush. He soon learned that rose bushes have a lot of thorns and that yes, you can be violated by a plant. Let's just say he never backed into a strange bush ever again.

"You just seemed so…" Cloud paused, searching for the perfect words to tell the General. He had considered lying his way around the situation but he disliked lying. It was horribly dishonest, "Focused and honourable. My father always said the way to tell a good man from a bad one is by their honour. He was an alcoholic, but…" he looked down, "I valued his words nonetheless."

The silver-haired SOLDIER gave a curt nod and eyed the rose bush angrily. He'd seen the idiotic Puppy slip into it and was hoping there were a hellish amount of thorns in that rose bush. Then again, he didn't mind being alone with the Cadet. He was the opposite of Zack and his presence made him calm and…happy, maybe? Sephiroth laughed in his mind. He didn't even know what happy was, how could he say such a thing?

"Your father sounds like a wise man. Has he said anything else to you?" he inquired in a voice that commanded authority and respect. It was a reflex, of course, and involuntary, and he would have hoped to pass as much friendlier. Then again, he doubted monsters were very friendly.

"He said the wisest things when he was sober…so, not that often. He did tell me once that behind every monster lives a human, wounded and weak but precious nonetheless. I think my father saw a lot of horrible things in his life, and that's why he had to drink to keep the memories away. But when he was sober, he was the kind of father any son would have wished for," Cloud ranted, temporarily forgetting that he was talking to the Demon of Wutai. His father may not have been capable of raising a child most of the time and he'd done some things to his son that Cloud rather not mention, but the man behind the monster had been the most precious of all.

"What is such a wise man doing now?" Sephiroth decided to go with praise. For some curious reason, he wanted for the blonde cadet to be happy. Right now he was holding on to his dream of entering the SOLDIER program, but then what? Sephiroth knew, the cadet was a massive mental breakdown waiting to happen. When you have nothing to live for, life is the worst of tortures.

"He's dead – liver problems. I was eight."

Sephiroth, at least, could relate to the lack of parental figure. Of course, he simply had no parents, but the loneliness was still common to them both. The connection he felt with the little cadet caught him off guard and he felt his mental wall come up in a reflexive manner. Affection was not an emotion he often came by and it scared him. Things that scared Sephiroth, he dismembered. For Cloud's sake, he wouldn't indulge in what he wished he could do.

"I'm sorry. A walk in the park?" he offered, bowing slightly.

Cloud was astounded; the General had bowed to HIM! A lowly, worthless cadet from a country town in the middle of nowhere. He'd only ever dreamed of meeting and working with the man, and now he was about to go on a walk in the park with the man he aspired to be like after only a year at Shinra.

To say that Tifa was annihilated as an important character in Cloud's heart would be a major understatement. The silver-haired General, on the other hand, was all he could think of.

""

A girl turned and shrieked, running to her mother.

"Mommy, there's a creepy guy in the bush!"

Zack cursed and moved from bush to bush, collecting twigs, leaves and scratches on his body like a stray dog catches fleas. He would soon commence Phase Two of his plan and he had to make sure Phase One finished out perfect.


	3. Chapter 3

"You've really never seen one, Cloud?" Zack whistled. The truck druver turned around to look before returning to the delicate task of keeping the old automobile on the bumpy road. It didn't deserve to be called a road; it was just an overgrown path in the middle of a thickly vegetated area. The car was much too big for it and tree branches cracked under its force.

"Never having seen a dragon, Zack, is not weird," he scoffed, "It's actually kind of normal."

The SOLDIER leaned back against the leather seat of the truck's backseat and shook his head.

"That's why he's here, isn't it? Give him a break," the General sighed. He'd had to listen to Zack scream, yell, bitch and moan about uninteresting things all day long and he was, quite frankly, way past being tired of it. He was about to throw him off the truck, take the driver's place, back up over Puppy's body, then accelerate over him again just to make sure he was out of his misery. All with love, of course.

"I'll really see a dragon here?" Cloud inquired nervously. He was way too weak to kill a dragon, much less one even the General labelled as a threat. He did value his life enough to dislike this expedition in the heavy jungle.

"Yes, and a big one too. Sighted just a few days ago," Zack said in a sudden outburst of seriousness.

The truck continued to roll at maximum speed through the thick jungle, crushing plants and small animals under its jagged, chain encircled wheels. Cloud was thrown from one side to the other of the backseat as the truck rolled over tall roots and tree trunk like they were twigs. Sephiroth, oddly, stayed in his seat as if gravity itself did not dare ask him to submit to it. He never moved an inch from his original seat and his hands stayed neatly folded in his lap. As for Zack, he was moving around on his own, so the truck's movement made little difference.

During one particularly nasty tree root, the truck lurched sideways dangerously and the entire contents of the truck - safe for the General, obviously - were thrown to the left of the vehicle. The driver himself had to cling to his steering wheel so he wouldn't lose control of the automobile. Cloud, being the lithe boy that he was, flew into the air and landed in the last place he wanted to be (or so he thought) - in the General's lap. It wasn't his fault, obviously, but he felt like it was. Cloud flushed more than he intended to and scrambled away as fast as he could, accidentally grabbing the back of Zack's shirt, yanking hard on it, and sending the SOLDIER smashing into the car window.

Zack whimpered as he pushed himself off the window, his nose bleeding all over the leather seat. Sephiroth sneered and moved away, muttering something about expensive uniforms. Cloud gnawed on his fingernails nervously; Sephiroth hadn't reacted at all. He didn't care, then, right?

"Why, Cloud? I've always been nice to you!" whined he, wiping the blood off with his sleeve.

"It was an accident..." Cloud defended himself half-heartedly.

"Pity," the General muttered to himself.

"What was that?" Cloud asked, telling himself he'd heard the incorrect thing. Sephiroth shrugged and returned to staring outside the window dully, as if trekking through a dense jungle was an everyday occurrence for him.

Finally the automobile stopped in the middle of a small clearing, the wheels skidding on the wet mud underfoot. The passengers exited the car and sunk ankle-deep in the thick, sticky mud while the driver sent them off; he would wait there until they came back. He was a burly man and he carried the largest gun the cadet had ever seen. He wasn't scared the driver would get killed by any monsters….

The two SOLDIERs knew their way, so they were first in line while Cloud trailed in the back. The plants were as tall as he and he had to swat most of the branches away to avoid having one or both eyes poked out. Not to mention the long snakes that hid amongst the tree roots or the bugs that stuck to your skin and bit until you yelled in pain. Cloud had spent only a few minutes in the jungle, and already he despised it beyond words.

"Isn't the jungle wonderful?" Zack squealed, "The fresh air, the vegetation, the ecosystem…"

"The bloodsuckers, the snakes, the mud, the angry carnivores…" Sephiroth finished for him. Apparently, he and the Cadet shared their disdain for the forest.

"You're only looking at what's in front of you! Think of the big picture."

"I can't see past the edge of my nose, what's in front of me is all I can see," the General countered angrily. There was mud in his shoes and he. Was. Not. Happy.

They advanced through the jungle at a snail's pace for it was difficult to extract one's foot from the mud – which acted as a suction cup – to make a step forward. Zack, of course, found this particularly delightful. By the time they reached a small wooden cabin at the top of a very random hill – somehow devoid of the jungle plants -, the sun had set and wolves could be heard singing in the background. They escaladed said hill, anxious to get out of their dirty clothes and flick the insects off of their skin.

The cabin was cold and plain with nothing but two beds, a fire pit and one frying pan lying on the floor. It was as cold inside as it was out, so Zack quickly got to starting a fire. As they added branches and twigs to the tiny flames, they burst alive into a fairly-sized fire.

"Do we have any food?" said Cloud.

"Uhm…no," Zack answered with a nervous laugh. He had been in charge of packing supplies and other such useful things.

"You forgot to pack food?" the General asked, bewildered. How could someone forget to pack any food…?

"That seems to be the case," Zack hummed. Cloud stared down at his feet as his stomach grumbled loudly.

"What are we going to do?" the Cadet moaned.

"We can go hunting," the SOLDIER offered slowly. The General snorted.

"No, YOU can go hunting, Zackary. We'll stay here and get clean while you go catch something that's neither a reptile nor a bug. Have fun," he added with a smile. Behind such a smile was nothing but evil and a desire to inflict pain upon another. Now, not only did he have mud in his boots, but he was also very hungry, and so he more than unhappy. He was on the verge of a killing spree.

Zack left the cabin with his head hung low and his boots dragging on the floor. The other two men didn't even allow him to clean off before he was sent off to catch supper. He had no desire to go hunt for the animals he knew lived very far away, especially now that it was dark and the jungle was going cold.

While Zackary was off finding something to eat in the dangerous, dark jungle, the other two men had found that there was a small but working well at the back of the cabin. Cloud dragged bucket after bucket of water up and dragged them into the cabin. They then proceeded to wash as much as they could with what little they had. The water soon ran scarce and Cloud had only managed to wash his hands and feet and one of his socks. He groaned and lay down on the wood floor.

"Hmmm, you're still full of mud," Sephiroth pointed out absently.

Cloud turned around to point out that he was too, but was surprised to see that the General was clean from head to toe. Like, soap and shampoo clean.

"How did you get so clean? Did you steal some of my water?" he whined.

"I did no such thing," he retorted, annoyed that he was being accused of stealing anything. Stealing actually wasn't something he excelled at; and since he was bad at it, he didn't do it. Making the most of small quantities of anything, however, was one of his specialties

"You used half of the water just on your feet. Of course you ran out," he snorted.

Cloud flushed again and stared miserably at his dirty clothes, cackled with mud. If he hadn't been quite so hungry and lousy-feeling, he might have gone to look for a lake or river or sorts. The General was thinking the same thing, but decided to wait for Zack to come back and fetch some for him.

Finally, the youngest SOLDIER came back. He was covered from head to toe in thick, heavy mud and there were deep, bloody gashes in his shoulder that bled all over his clothes. At the very least, he was holding a huge, striped animal almost as big as he was. He panted and dropped the heavy animal on the floor, fuming.

"I just spent two hours in the mud and the dirt and the cold and the dark and then…then I got attacked by a tiger!" he pointed to the dead mass on the floor, "I could have died!"

Sephiroth sniggered while Cloud shifted uncomfortably. The Cadet liked tigers and hated the thought of having to eat one very much…but he was hungry enough.

"Can I go wash up now?" he hissed.

"Actually, we used it all. You'll have to either find a river or stay like that," the General added calmly. Zack's eyebrow twitched.

"But I went hunting for you guys," he forced himself to take long, deep breaths to calm himself down.

"…but there's no water left," Cloud echoed the General's thoughts. He motioned to the empty water buckets, lying innocently on the ground, now dry.

Zack yelled and kicked the tiger, sitting down on the ground. If he hadn't known that Sephiroth could kick his behind without breaking a sweat, he would have attacked him and stolen his clean clothes. Cloud just looked too innocent and scared to be attacked; besides, his clothes were as filthy as before. Only his feet and hands looked clean…

"Aren't you going to skin that thing, Zackary?" the General inquired calmly.

Zack opened his mouth to protest, but Cloud shook his head, looking nervous. Was the Cadet actually taking the older SOLDIER's side? His plan seemed to be going in the wrong direction…such, he was being left in the dust! And Zack did not get left in the dust without a fight.

XxXxXxXxX

It was about three in the morning when a loud, savage roar woke the three men up. They jolted awake and got to their feet in a flash. Cloud, who was still half stuck in his dreams, followed the SOLDIERs unconsciously, often tripping as he followed them. He wasn't quite sure if it was still a dream or reality. All he knew was that it certainly was an unpleasant dream.

They ran through the dark jungle, their boots getting dirt all over again. Thankfully, now that it wasn't humid, their shoes seemed to stick much less to the mud – which had hardened somewhat – and the leaves and branches were easier to toss aside. Finally, Cloud woke up completely and realized he was chasing a dragon. Panic set in his heart and he began to see light spots in the side of his eyes as his heart raced much faster than it should.

They arrived at that last thing the Cadet would have expected to see: a mountainside. It was so controversial. They climbed a steep hill, their boots scratching against boulders and rock scraps. They could hear rumbling and loud growling from above, and for all Cloud was scared, Zack was pumped and ready to fight. They reached the top ledge after about an hour of climbing, and still the roaring and stomping had not stopped. It was so loud now that Cloud had to pin his hands to his ears not to go deaf.

The mouth of the cave was round and dark, and about as high as twenty men standing upon one another's shoulders. Zack ran towards it without waiting, and the silver-haired General had to grab his arm to keep him from running inside.

"Slow down, Zackary. Do you want to get eaten?" he barked. Zack laughed but stood still where Sephiroth had placed him anyway.

They entered the cave slowly, led by the General, Cloud trailing at the end with his sword held defensively in front of his face. Not that he would admit it, but he was terrified. He wanted to run up to the General and hide behind his legs, but he reminded himself that 1) it was quite inappropriate from someone his age and 2) he'd probably get kicked in the nose. So he sucked it up and continued down the steep passageway, keeping an eye on the youngest SOLDIER at all times.

And then there was a dragon – and a large one at that. It lay on the stone ground, tail curled around its scaly claws, his nose turned away from them as if observing the back wall of the cave. It didn't see or, apparently, smell them at first so Cloud was able to get a good look at it while they remained safe. He'd never seen one before and, admittedly, they were quite impressive. Its scales were dark red, like human blood, in fact, and they shone under the firelight. For some reason, a long line of torches hung from the walls, all lit, and illuminated the cave.

"Did the dragon put those torches up?" Cloud whispered.

"No, dragons don't have more brains than a dog," the General explained calmly. Zack snorted; Sephiroth was never patient with him. He snapped and told him he was an idiot. How unfair, "People come and build these caves for dragons to lure them far away from civilization. They put up torches and lay gold on the floor so they'll stay there."

Cloud blushed and nodded, grateful for the explanation. Then, before he could bask anymore in it, the dragon smelled something alien in his home and turned around, clearly angry. He was a dragon, and so he just had to eat these humans! Not because he was hungry, no, but because he had a reputation to uphold. And such work it was!

The dragon lunged, and the two SOLDIER pelted sideways to avoid its large snout. The Cadet, unfortunately, did not have that reflex and was thrown backwards and his weapon slid away, too far to reach. He screamed – in a very unmanly way, might I add – and crawled away. He probably looked like an untrained coward but, since his life was on the line, he didn't care much.

Sephiroth, who had cleanly and easily avoided the dragon's attack, turned around to see the Cadet being thrown in the air and screaming as he lost grip of his weapon. On most occasions, he left Cadets to their own devices, but on that occasion he decided to backtrack towards the Cadet. Zack, apparently, had the same idea but the General was much faster. He scooped up the Cadet as the dragon lunged again, and jumped out of reach. Cloud had fainted, to his surprise, so he had to let Zack take care of the overgrown lizard on his own. Shame, he thought.

The dragon went down fast enough: it was hardly more than a baby one. When it fell, Zack went about collecting key pieces of its body to sell once they were back in Midgar. Cloud shifted in the General's arms but never woke. When Zack was finally done, they headed back, Zack with his arms full of dragon parts and Sephiroth full of the light-haired Cadet.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author: hasnt it been a while!? sorry...I keep forgetting to update. But I hope you like this one! MATURE CONTENT IN IT. soooo...enjoy and review ^^ if you do ill update way faster, believe me. **

**Unknown123190**

The monstrous tiger-like creature prowled around the room, its tail lashing behind it, its claws dig into the beige cushion as it ate it whole. Sephiroth stared at it through the crack in the door, only an inch big. Even he wasn't fond of the idea of stepping into the same room as the mutated feline which Hojo had dumped into his room that morning before he awoke because the laboratory containment cages were all full. He growled. The tiger had swallowed half of his furniture in less than an hour and it still wasn't full. He would have slaughtered the strange beast as soon as he'd spotted it had he not first seen the little post-it the scientist had left stuck to his refrigerator door, fluttering weakly.

_The containment cages in the laboratory are all full so I'm leaving the Experiment XF547 in your living room. I'll be back tonight to pick it up. Don't even think about killing it, it's designed to beat the crap out of pompous Generals such as yourself. Plus, if you somehow manage to kill it, I'll tear you to pieces and make another one out of your bones._

_Love, Hojo._

He took out his cell phone, which he used very scarcely because he really had no one to text except Zack, whom he had to endure enough as it was, and dialled Zack's number for the first time. Zack called him often but he'd made sure he had caller ID so he simply ignored it. His phone-voice was even whinier than the real thing.

"Hello?" Zack sounded bored for once. There was an odd, suspicious scratching noise in the background.

"…Zachary," he let his voice be his introduction. As he'd hoped, it was enough for the Puppy to recognize.

"Sephiroth!? You're calling ME?" he gasped, "…oh no, who died?"

Sephiroth growled in the speaker and clutched the little machine tighter, hearing the plastic crack a bit under the pressure. He didn't want to purchase another one so he was careful not to shatter it into a million little pieces like he really wanted.

"No one! Just…get over here. I have a little problem I need you to take care of," he stated gravely. Of course, Zack comprehended something completely opposite of what was actually happening.

"You finally want to consummate our love? Ohhhhh I'll be right there!" purred the dark-haired SOLDIER on the other line. The General frowned but didn't feel like explaining to Zack exactly what was fundamentally wrong with what he just said. He just hung up the phone without saying bye and then went back to observing the beast as it moved over to the television. He never watched television but still…it was _his_ and he wanted to protect it.

A little ways off in the Shinra building, Zack was grinning as he stared at the beeping phone, his brain working into overload as he put the pieces of his plan together. What a wonderful opportunity! He ended the call with the General and then composed another number, the number of a certain light-haired Cadet.

Twenty minutes later, the living room had been devoured and the beast was laying on its side, eyes half-closed, and its flank going up and down rhythmically. Sephiroth was pacing out in the hallway in front of his door, his hands curled into tight fists at his sides. His sword was still inside the apartment and there was no way to get to it unless he crossed the living room, which he wouldn't do, because Hojo had made sure it was out of his reach; he wouldn't risk loosing his latest creation.

Finally the elevator doors opened and out came Zack, followed by the blonde Cadet that had been worming his way into Sephiroth's mind more often than not now – not that he'd ever admit it. Zack had a wide, suspicious smile on his face while the Cadet bowed his head ever so slightly in a respectful greeting to the General. And then, without warning, he flashed him a little smile. The General blinked, surprised. The Cadet blushed a little, red dusting his pale cheeks.

"Hiiiii Sephiroth!" Zack chirped, grabbing onto the General's arm and pulling him into a semi-hug. Sephiroth growled very beast-like and pushed the Puppy away with one hard push, sending him flying into a wall; he then slid down to fall on his backside, whimpering pathetically. Cloud laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his head while looking away as though nervous.

"I need your help," he addressed Zack but was looking at Cloud who blushed some more and made a point of staring up at the ceiling as if fascinated by the eggshell color.

"YOU need OUR help?" the Puppy sounded positively distraught.

"Yes – don't make that face!" he snarled, snatching Zack up by the collar of his shirt and shaking him lightly.

Before Zack could answer, the General pointed to the door to his apartment and mouthed for them to be quiet as he inched closer to it, stepping lightly. He didn't want the mutant to hear them coming. Cloud was effective at staying as quiet as a mouse, to Sephiroth's amazement, while Cloud managed to actually trip on his way down the flat, obstacle-free hallway. He landed on the rug with a loud thud and yelped, probably waking up the feline that once slept in the living room. The General threw daggers at him with his eyes while Cloud stepped over his friend, eyes glued to the General, and went forward until he was inches away from the silver-haired man. His heart was beating faster and the blush on his face intensified until he had to turn his face sideways to keep the General from seeing it. What would the man think if he knew!?

Sephiroth opened a crack in the door so that Cloud could take a look into the ravaged living room. His eyes snapped wide when he saw the huge monster prowling around the room, its claws longer than most swords and thick drool dripping from its open mouth. It was ruining the expensive rug where it was standing. Cloud bit his lip; he couldn't get rid of THAT. He knew just from looking at it that it could put up one nasty fight, one he probably wouldn't come out of alive. He'd also look like an incompetent fool in from of his idol!

"We have to get rid of it! It's destroying my apartment," Sephiroth hissed darkly very, very close to the Cadet's ear. To Cloud, however, it just sounded…sensual and husky. He began to writhe in his spot, but thankfully the General remained oblivious to his actions.

Zack had now joined them and seemed impressed, too, when he saw the massive creature.

"…wow, not the best choice of pet Sephiroth. How did you even get it in here?"

"It's not a PET, Zachary. Hojo put it here while I was sleeping to piss me off and I want it OUT," the General snapped as a retort.

"Wait, you want it out? Killing it is one thing but…" Cloud offered in a calm but low voice as he tried to cover up his anxiety.

Now, Sephiroth rarely weighed anyone else's opinion when he was plotting or trying to solve a problem, because he honestly thought very little people had a higher IQ than he. However, when it came to the blonde Cadet, he found that he not only appreciated his opinion, but he almost wished he would be around to help him make decisions all the time. It unnerved him greatly.

"Hojo said it was designed to beat even me. Plus, he made sure my weapon was out of reach…so, we need to lure him out somehow. I don't care if he eats the whole building as long as it's not my stuff," he growled.

And so they devised a very quick plan and Zack ran off to the kitchens while Cloud and Sephiroth waited together in the hallway, alone and…awkward. Neither wanted to look at each other but they didn't know that the other was thinking about him. Sadly ironic. Cloud cleared his throat, deciding he would take a step. The General blinked and looked at him, waiting.

"Ahh…uhm…so, do you live alone?"

He mentally whacked himself with a boulder; what a stupid question! Why couldn't he think of something intelligent to ask the General? But to his surprise, the General didn't react negatively to his question at all. He leaned against the wall facing Cloud, his hair falling against his shoulder and his eyes glued to the Cadet's face.

"Yes, I live on my own. Why do you ask?" he seemed genuinely curious so Cloud relaxed a little, slacking his shoulders and sighing softly in relief.

"I was just wondering," he laughed a little to shake off his nervousness.

"So Cloud," the General grinned, "why did you want to join Shinra?"

Cloud was stuck between lying and telling the truth. As simple as that. If he told the truth it'd be quite a bit embarrassing (a lot more than a bit) and he might see the General push him away and refuse to see him ever again. If he lied, he'd be breaking one of his many principles and he might never live it down or look at himself in the mirror. It might sound tacky but he didn't want to be a bad person. He wanted to be someone others could respect and look up to, like he looked up at the General. The General was waiting for the answer, and he had to make a choice…

"I came because I saw a report on you on television and I thought…I wanted to become someone like you. Someone people looked up to," he paused to look at the silver-haired man's face.

Sephiroth let his hair fall in front of his face and slipped closer to the Cadet until their faces were inches away and Cloud began to breath in pants and his face turned as red as a tomato. He smiled a charming, arrogant smile and involuntarily licked his lip which caused Cloud to start feeling a bit too hot…the General placed a hand on the back of Cloud's head and brought it closer and the Cadet thought he just might faint.

"Does Cloud happen to have a crush?" the taller man mused, his cat-like eyes glinting mischievously.

"M-me? General…" he moaned when someone's leg slipped in between his and rubbed what he'd been trying to hide for some time now. How embarrassing, he thought, the General will be disgusted. But the other man didn't move away or stop moving his leg against the hard spot in the Cadet's pants, still grinning. He seemed very sure of himself.

"Your body does, at least," he purred, moving up to rub his own bulge against Cloud's. The Cadet couldn't stop the moan that rose to his throat and he bit his lip. His body really was betraying him!

"G-General," he began. Sephiroth cut him off by crushing their lips together, and Cloud noted his soft and warm they were, unlike he had imagined. When he pulled away, he breathed against Cloud's ear and the friction between their sexes intensified. He muffled a moan again.

"Use my name." It was an order.

Cloud felt like he was going to melt when the General's hands slid down his chest, brushing against his nipples as he passed, and began rubbing the source of his excitement through the fabric of his pants. He thought he would die when the hand wriggled into his pants and inches forward slowly, very slowly, towards its destination…he could practically hear the General smirk when he came when his fingers just brushed lightly against his member. Cloud flushed in embarrassment.

"That wasn't very long…"

Cloud opened his mouth to retort when he saw the other man's pale, slim hand come out of his pants and his tongue reached out to lick the wet fingers. This couldn't be happening! He moaned to himself; his head was spinning. This was like in his dreams, only better, although in both cases he'd soiled his pants and underwear. The General seemed satisfied once his hands was clean and moved away gently from the Cadet just as the elevator door swung open and out came Zack, holding a huge pack of bleeding meet wrapped in brown paper in his arms. He seemed to be struggling with it and he didn't notice that Cloud's pants were still undone and there was a bit of liquid hanging around the edge of his pants.

"Let's do this!"

* * *

"…I'm gunna kill Hojo," Zack groaned.

"It's not that bad," Cloud assured him as he poured some alcohol on Zack's bleeding wounds; the SOLDIER howled in pain.

"It's fine for YOU. I don't get it! Sephiroth throws me in there like a rodent while he refuses to even let you within a mile of that thing. And I've been so nice to him!"

Cloud felt his heart speed up as he remembered how the General had categorically refused to let Cloud do anything and had kicked Zack into the apartment without a second thought, with meat tied to his body.

"It's a mystery," Cloud agreed.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: thank you all for reviewing! it made me wanna make another chapter, which I did, so I hope you like it too. **

**enjooooooy**

**btw, I think I'm mistreating Zack a bit much...well...I'll make up for it later I guess. **

* * *

Cloud kept dreaming about what had happened in the hallway, the memory playing over and over in his thought-cluttered head until he was forced to 'take care' of the problem that resulted from it. The other Cadets didn't seem to hear the noises he made so it was alright, for the time at least. Sometimes Zack, who was rather fond of night time visits when he came back from a mission, would jump onto his bed when his hand was stuck in a rather embarrassing place; he'd have to push the SOLDIER off the bed roughly and yank his pants up while the other was picking himself up off the floor.

It had been about two weeks since the incident and he hadn't seen the General since. The mutant, which they'd unleashed in the laboratory floor, had apparently made massive damage to the equipment and eaten off a chunk of Hojo's calf while the scientist was running away from it. Apparently, the silver-haired man was rather pleased to hear that. Whatever the reason, Cloud was starting to get the impression that Sephiroth had just been having a bit of fun and therefore there was no reason to visit the Cadet again. That made Cloud restless.

His phone rang; he snatched it off his nightstand and brought the speaker up to his ear, grumbling a weak 'hello'.

"You're in the mood for meat stew," someone stated bluntly on the other line. Cloud groaned.

"Not really, Zack," he retorted dryly. He wasn't in the mood for anything, much less meat stew!

"Yes you are. I'm outside your dorm, ready to take you to the best restaurant ever. Hurry ~ up," Zack chirped before hanging up. Cloud blink, brought the phone away from his ear and stared at it. How could someone like Zack even exist?

He ended up getting dressed anyway, slipping his phone into his back pocket, and then headed out the door while the other Cadets glared at him over their study books. Zack was, indeed, waiting for him, leaning against one of the walls of the building, his arms crossed over his chest. He smirked when he saw the younger boy and Cloud felt the need to run away and hide before something awful or uncomfortable happened. Zack was naturally followed by bad luck, like a black cat.

"That was surprisingly fast," said Zack as he ruffled the Cadet's hair, still grinning. Cloud whined and slapped his hand away, looking flustered.

"Yeah well I didn't want you terrorizing the other Cadets while they're trying to study."

Zack feigned hurt while he led Cloud away from the Shinra building and down a couple of roads, around a couple of corners and past a couple of shops. Cloud frowned; where the hell were they going? But the SOLDIER seemed to know his way around so he just followed blindly, a sense of dread building up in his brain like a virus. Finally they arrived at a small but cozy-looking restaurant, nestled in between two tall houses. The front door was painted dark, forest green and there were small oil lanterns hanging from the exterior wall to light the entrance. They stepped inside and as soon as they past the doorway, a delicious smell made their mouths water, for they hadn't eaten at all since the previous day. A girl wearing a black and white uniform led them to a table and they sat down facing each other, Cloud facing the front door and Zack facing the kitchen. They sat in silence until Cloud noticed that there was another chair pressed up against their table.

"Why'd she put another chair there?" the Cadet wondered out loud. Zack continued to grin.

"Because we're expecting company."

"…eh!?" the Cadet glared at his friend, his hair standing up even more than it already did. If Zack was trying to pimp him out to rich old men again as a sex toy he wouldn't hesitate to spear both of their heads outside the Shinra building. He was too young to be violated, couldn't Zack understand that?

As if on cue, a tall man with the longest silver hair the Cadet had ever seen was led to their table by the same girl, and his boots clicked against the wood floors. He was wearing his uniform, as always, so everyone around them had left their dinners to stare wide-eyed at the General as he walked about this cozy restaurant. It was certainly an odd sight to behold, especially when said General went to sit next to a hyperactive SOLDIER and a blushing Cadet. Sephiroth only had to turn his icy stare to the people who stared at him to have everyone turn their eyes away nervously. No, angering Sephiroth wasn't a good idea, even on the best of days.

"Glad you could make it," said Zack cheerfully once the General was seated. He seemed way too imperial to be sitting on such a small, wobbly chair.

"Yes, well, someone _did _recommend the food here…" he explained slowly. Zack snorted and began browsing the menu, frowning somewhat. Zack was never good at making snap decisions.

As for Cloud, he was simply too nervous to even consider moving his limbs, much less read an entire menu while the General was sitting next to him. He couldn't quite pinpoint the reason _why _he was so nervous but, whatever it was, it was annoying. When Sephiroth picked up his menu as well and eyed Cloud as though saying 'why aren't you looking at this?', the Cadet found the strength within him to move his arms and grab his menu. Although his eyes roamed over the laminated piece of paper, he wasn't really reading anything, and so when the waiter came to take their order he pointed to the first thing he saw, shrimp and rice. Both Zack and Sephiroth ordered beef stew and the Cadet immediately wished he had too. He hated shrimp.

"I hate shrimp; I don't know how you can eat those," the General addressed him softly.

Cloud froze; he hated shrimp too! But if he told Sephiroth that then it would become clear that he'd never been looking at the menu at all and he'd look like even more of a fool. Zack, who knew Cloud disliked shrimp, snorted in laughter and almost spit out a mouthful of water. How immature, the Cadet thought glumly.

"I'm trying something new?" the Cadet offered; thankfully the General seemed to buy it and simply shrugged.

The conversation went on, mostly between Zack and Sephiroth, about Shinra's plans, about Midgar, about the upcoming evaluation for the Cadets and, at one point, about Hojo. Cloud was staring at his hands, feeling very sorry for himself that he couldn't muster up the courage to enter the conversation. This was a golden opportunity to get closer to the General and he was fucking it up pretty good. By the time the food arrived, he'd barely said ten words and Zack was casting him quick, questioning glances every time the General's eye wandered elsewhere.

"There you go," the waitress said as she deposited steaming plates in front of each of them. She then gave the three boys some utensils and then wandered off to some other table, swinging her hips.

"Mmmmm, beef stew…" Zack mumbled with his mouth full. Sephiroth sighed.

"Zachary, eat like a regular person before I kick you out. Swallow before you talk."

Even Zack wasn't suicidal enough to embarrass the General in public, so under normal circumstances he would, in fact, have swallowed before he talked. However, this time, he did not, because he had something sneaky in mind and this was just going perfect. He glared at Sephiroth, sending him an unspoken challenge, and began talking loudly while opening his mouth – which was full off beef and potatoes – to show off its content. Sephiroth growled and, in one quick movement, he picked up the Puppy by the front of his shirt, half dragged him over to the front door, opened it with his shoulder and threw Zack out with one massive heave. Poor Zack rolled around a few times on the pavement before coming to a stop, a large bump on the top of his head. Inside, he was smirking while on the outside, he winced and glared at Sephiroth.

Everyone was staring again as the tall man returned to his table where sat the traumatized Cadet who had just learned that crossing the General was just as lethal as was rumoured. He almost started running when the silver-haired General sat back down calmly on his chair and resumed his meal with immaculate manners. The only reason he didn't bolt was that he, too, had considerably good manners so he wouldn't have to worry about that. However, now he was alone with the General. Plus, he was starving and the only thing he had to eat was the disgusting shrimp and the fried rice.

"D…do you think I can take Zack's stew? Mine tastes bad," said Cloud in a weak voice.

"Why not? He's not coming back," the General assured.

Cloud leaned forward, hands outstretched, and grabbed the SOLDIER's abandoned stew before pushing his own dinner to the other end of the table. Just as the other two had predicted, it tasted wonderful and Cloud was finally able to relax a little bit as the tender meat melted in his mouth. He was done before Sephiroth, surprisingly, so he pushed the bowl sideways and observed the other man as he ate, blushing again. He never could stop blushing and, therefore, felt rather emasculated.

"Did I do something wrong, Sephiroth?" he finally managed to ask; he had gotten to calling the other by his name, too. The General finished his mouthful, of course, before answering.

"I don't think so, Cloud," he accentuated heavily on Cloud's name as if the sound of the monosyllabic name was particularly fun to say, "Why do you ask?"

"Because you've been avoiding me," he confessed softly, pushing his fork around the table aimlessly with two fingers.

"What makes you think that?" the other man sounded genuinely confused and he was frowning. Cloud began to panic.

"Well you haven't come to see me…"

_'…I sound like a girl' _was what he thought and he felt like hiding in a hole and never coming out of it. What would Tifa say if she saw him? She remembered him as the strong, calm, composed Cloud, not this weak, panicking, confused Cadet that was actually falling in love with another man. Oh no, she would be quite displeased – not that he really cared. She wasn't there to witness it anyhow.

"Nor have you," Sephiroth pointed out quietly. "Have you thought about how all the Cadets would react if they saw me in the dormitory or, much worse, go into your bed? Only Zachary would find pleasure in confusing a couple hundred Cadets," the General glowered angrily.

It was true that he'd been expecting the General to come to him and not the other way around, because he felt like the 'girl' in the relationship. Was he happy about it? Not really – it was just how it was. However, it was true that it would be a bad idea for Sephiroth to walk into the dormitory and come see him; the Cadets could be jealous or mad or feel that he was getting 'extra credit' in his exams for being close to such a high-up. But Cloud had trouble imagining himself going to the General's apartment at night and wriggling under his sheets – he began to blush even more.

"…it's not because you don't want to see me?"

Sad, nervous, anxious, confused.

"That…is not the case."

Amusement…happiness?

"I can come see you then?"

Hope, joy.

"Whenever you'd like."

Definitely happiness.

While Zack was left to wander LOVELESS Avenue on his own, a bit run-down and annoyed, Cloud was forced – well, he'd call it being forced but he'd have come uninvited too – to the General's quarters (which had been repaired) and introduced for the first time to someone else's bed. At first he was a bit nervous and scared but somehow the General managed to dissipate those feelings and all that was left was pleasure.

It felt like he was melting, and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, but that feeling was stronger than the irritating rub of his back against the sheets, stronger than the pain in his head as it hit the headboard every now and then, stronger than the discomfort of being painfully stretched for the first time. When he was younger, he'd once fallen down in a camp fire, and for a few seconds he'd felt like his skin would fall off from the heat. This was similar, but it didn't necessarily hurt. And then there were his kisses, all over his body, on his neck, under his jaw, on his chest; everywhere. They burned, too, but he craved for much more. Touches, as well, were like flames licking his body, and they made him jolt and squirm and moan, too, but the other seemed to enjoy that. He wondered if the General was burning just like he was and, because he wanted him to, he touched him as well with his mouth and his hands.

By the time they were done, the Cadet couldn't even think about walking and was thoroughly impressed by Sephiroth's sex drive. He lay on the bed, unable to move, and he heard the General apologize stiffly.

"…might have been too much…" Cloud heard the other man mutter.

But it was okay with him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Longest one yet...CHEERS TO THE AUTHOR. you'd better cheer............R&R and enjoy!!!**

That particular Tuesday morning brought sunshine, warm weather, a swarm of activity within and outside the Shinra building, and a stench of sickness. The cries of men training or performing drills was lesser than usual, of course, for many of those men were laying in bed, stricken by fever and spasms of violent coughing and unable to participate in the daily military activities. The amount of cadets, SOLDIERs and other Shinra personnel afflicted was astounding even to the doctors summoned to take a look at the sick ones, and so Shinra decided to separate the sick people from the healthy ones in order to preserve whatever men they still had working. SOLDIER first class Zack, along with hundreds of other sick men, was forced to move to the East side of the building and was assigned a rather shabby-looking bunk. It was unusual to see SOLDIERs mixed in with cadets and even a couple of secretaries, but under such an epidemic there was no time to find suitable accommodations for everyone. All those men would have to suffer in the same room and there was nothing to be done about it.

For all Zack was fine with it all, the General was not. He'd never been sick, for his metabolism was as strong and powerful as could be, and whatever bacteria found their unfortunate way into his body were annihilated by his strong bodily defences before he could even feel the symptoms. This time, however, his body had failed to ward off the sickness and he found himself unceremoniously – albeit respectfully – pushed into a small room adjacent the main dormitory for the sick men along with a small amount of his belongings. Two third class SOLDIERs were in the room too, making sure he was 'all set', as they put it, and he was frankly annoyed by their presence. He shooed them off sharply before throwing his things on a crooked nightstand next to his bed and sitting down on said bed, groaning. His head was spinning alarmingly fast, he felt cold and couldn't stop shivering and his stomach was making flip-flops. To say that he was mad at his body for not protecting him properly would be an understatement.

There was a small but strong knock on the door, and he muttered a low 'enter'. Whoever it was had better have a reason. The door opened with an audible creak and a certain someone's head, flushed by the same sickness, appeared in the doorway.

"Zachary," the General acknowledged in a half-moan. The pain shooting up from his spine to his head was unbearable.

"I didn't believe them when they said you were sick," the Puppy managed to wheeze a small laugh. He sounded absolutely horrible.

"My body failed," the silver-haired man explained through painfully drawn and exhaled breaths.

Zack seemed curiously active for a man afflicted by the same thing as Sephiroth, and he didn't stop talking except to cough hoarsely or to wipe some of the sweat off his brow with his arm. The first class SOLDIER was bundled up in about six layers of blankets and wore three pairs of thick wool socks on his feet, and still he shivered and complained about being cold; his whole body was sweating. Sephiroth, who refused to be seen hiding beneath a mountain of cloth, simply sat there, feeling very cold indeed, with only his usual leather outfit and boots. Finally, the conversation turned towards Zack's close friend, and Sephiroth's…'special' friend (at the time at least), which Sephiroth missed more than he cared to admit. If Zack had any idea about his two friend's night time activities, he didn't show it.

"…been smiling a lot lately and spacing out. He seems so content, I don't know why. Hey, Seph, are you listening?" asked Zack, his face betraying his annoyance. Sephiroth snapped out of his daze and swallowed down a coughing fit.

"Yes," he lied quickly.

"Do _you _know why he's been so giddy lately? Cloud, I mean," Zack inquired suspiciously.

If Zack had been the one to want to bring his two lonely friends together in the first place, he never expected it to work very well and, if it did, he expected it to take a while. They'd get to know each other for a few months, maybe kiss eventually, and then who knew? That's why he didn't automatically assume that Cloud's happiness was to be associated with the General; in fact, he was scared Cloud had found someone else. He would never have guessed how far the two men's sexual frustration, on top of their attraction to one another, would go. Sephiroth hid the smile that formed itself on his lips.

"I have no idea," he paused as a thought occurred to him, "Is he in the sick ward too?"

Zack shook his head and extracted one cold hand from his cocoon of blankets to flatten his unruly hair, "I asked and the other cadets said he wasn't affected. Shinra just cancelled all training and classes for them since most are sick, so Cloud's off. Must be bored."

They chatted idly for another little while until Sephiroth, feeling the horrible migraine returning, chased the SOLDIER out of his room without as much as a goodbye and waited for the other man's footsteps to fade into the distance. He lay against the door, his back rubbing against the coarse wood, letting the haze settle in front of his sickened eyes until he could only see darkness and he felt himself fall towards the ground, his consciousness slipping from his grip like smoke. It left him completely a mere second before his head hit the hard floor and his body rolled sideways.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Cloud rolled around in his bunk, listening with one straining ear for any sound or movement. There was none. He was used to the sound of his comrades snoring, kicking the sides of their bunk, talking in their sleep or getting up to sneak into the bathroom, and the absence of those sounds made him very uneasy. He was so used to never being alone anymore that, even if they weren't all his friends, he was comforted by their presence. There was no one left except him in that section of the dorm and so he gave up on sleeping and jumped out of bed to land soundlessly on the cold floor. He shuffled out of the room into the silent corridor, an idea forming in his mind. He smiled to himself as he walked swiftly towards the elevator, climbed into it and jabbed the number of Sephiroth's floor. After all, he_ had _said that Cloud could come whenever he felt like it, and it had been too many days since they'd last seen each other, in the blonde's opinion.

He arrived at said floor, only to discover that there was a third class SOLDIER standing in front of the General's quarter's door, listening to his small portable radio. He didn't notice Cloud and his head bobbed from side to side, back and forth, along with the low music coming out of the little box's speakers. He shuffled over to the SOLDIER and cleared his throat nervously. The other man snapped the radio shut, slipped it into his back pocket and pivoted on his feet to face the light-haired cadet.

"Here to see the General?" inquired the SOLDIER.

"Yes."

The other man shrugged and Cloud felt his heart drop a mile down. His excitement – both physical and emotional – had built up on the ride up and he didn't feel like leaving, completely disappointed.

"He's fallen sick and was moved to the East wing. I know, you'd think he can't get sick, right? Turns out he's human after all. I'm posted here to take any messages or things like that…can I help you?"

"No, it's fine…"

Before the SOLDIER on guard duty next to the General's quarters could answer, Cloud was already in the elevator and pressing the 'door close' button. The machine set into motion and Cloud felt his heart move upwards as the elevator dropped down quite a few floors and stopped at the seventeenth. The young cadet exited the elevator and snuck down the hallway towards what he knew was the sick ward, and had previously been the weapon stock room. He could already smell the thick, choking smell of sickness and sweat, but he cared not if he caught the bug himself. At least then he could sleep.

He was stopped at the doors by a rather large squad of SOLDIERS wearing face masks and gloves. They glared at him as he approached and he stopped in his tracks.

"I want to see someone," Cloud explained awkwardly, feeling intimidated by the tall, strong men with swords slung and tied to their back.

"No one's allowed to go in. We're so short on staff that we can't risk any more getting that virus. It'll have to wait," the tallest of the squad growled before shooing Cloud away without another word.

Cloud waited in the elevator – which he returned to _again _– unsure of what to do next. He was determined to see Sephiroth and nothing was going to stop him. Was there another way into the sick ward? There was no back door and way too many men posted in front of the doors to get rid of. The only opening in that place was the main door and perhaps the air vents…

The air vents. He shivered. He had some decent navigation skills, albeit not as sharp as some of his comrades, so he might be able to sneak in through the aeration system and enter through one of the vents. Normally, he would categorically refuse to wiggle through the narrow corridor of the vents, but this was a special occasion. If he got sick, all the better, then he could see the General all the time.

He went back to his dorm and climbed onto one of the upper bunks, which was conveniently placed right under the aeration vent. Using his newfound strength, he tore the metal gate off the opening and jumped up, scrambling through painfully, his hands slipping on the smooth metal surface. It was a ridiculously tight fit, and he could feel himself being compressed from all sides, and he had to push himself forward using his toes and his elbows. He could feel cold air blowing all around him, flattening his hair against his scalp and ruffling his clothes. As he slowly inched closer and closer to the sick ward, the smell of fresh, air conditioned air was replaced by the putrid stench of sickness and vomit. Soon it was all around him, choking him, causing his stomach to clench and rumble with discomfort. He stared down through each metal cage to see if he could spot the General or a place to slip out unnoticed. But the General was nowhere to be found; he saw Zack laying on his bunk looking like he was suffering intensely, his friend Tom throwing up into a rusted bucket, sitting on the edge of his bed. The others weren't faring much better, but he didn't care then and continued to crawl through the aeration system. Eventually he tired out and decided to rest a moment, lying down fully onto the cold surface, closing his eyes for a moment.

There was a creak, a groan and then a crack. Cloud's eyes snapped open. He pushed himself up with his elbows as he felt the vent start to shake dramatically and then, without any notice, the vent tore apart and the young cadet fell down, screaming loudly. He landed on the floor, writhing in pain as shock ran up his arm, down his shoulder and up his neck. He cracked one eye open, scared that he'd fallen in the middle of the dormitory and would be dragged out by the back of his shirt by some angry SOLDIERs. What he found was not at all what he had expected.

"…"

Green and blue eyes stared at each other, both getting over the initial shock of Cloud falling down from the ceiling. The blonde cadet found that his voice caught in his throat and he couldn't force any words out as he stared at the man he'd snuck through the air vents to see. The irony was a bit much, he found.

"I won't ask," the General sighed, rubbing his temples with his forefingers to rub away the persistent headache. The sound of the falling boy had jolted him out of his feverish sleep and haunted dreams and he was still drowsy.

"I wanted to see you," the cadet squeaked as he got off the floor. He could feel a bruise forming all over his left arm but he didn't care; he was so happy! He'd made it. The air vent God had heard his prayers and caused him to fall in the General's room, no less!

"Now may not be the best time," Sephiroth groaned before snatching a wet towel from his nightstand and pressing it to his forehead. He felt horrible and there was no way he would be making love any time soon. The General figured that, since he was in no shape to pleasure the young cadet, the boy would want to leave before long.

Cloud understood something completely different; did the General not want him there? He'd been through so much to see him, though, and there was a twinge at his heart as he thought of being chased out. He'd even half mashed his arm for this! He walked closer to the taller man, his eyes lowered to the ground and a few strands of his sandy hair slipping in front of his eyes. Sephiroth stiffened, watching the cadet intently.

"Don't chase me out, sir. Please."

Sephiroth frowned as the cadet sat down on the bed next to him, his face red as usual when he was around the General. His eyesight was shot and he could hardly see the outline of Cloud's beautiful face, which he usually loved to stare at. Even his feet found a way to throb painfully and he just wanted someone to kill himself, and thus put him out of his misery. That was _not _too much to ask. Besides, a lot of people wanted to see the Demon of Wutai dead, right?

"I don't see why you would want to stay. I can't satisfy you today: I'm sick."

The cadet blinked, blushed and then scooted closer, laying his head against the General's shoulder. His very, VERY hot shoulder. The skin was burning like coals and for the first time, the cadet wondered if it was worth catching this illness. It certainly seemed painful.

"I'll take care of you then," he chirped.

The General opened his mouth to object; he would _not _have someone, anyone, even his Cloud, taking care of him. That was not how the world worked and he wouldn't allow himself to be cared for like some helpless animal! He would heal after a few days, Hojo had told him, no matter how close to death he felt he was. He didn't need the cadet to do this and he didn't want the light-haired boy to see him like this, either way.

"No," he snarled heatedly. Cloud didn't flinch.

"Yes, and you can't stop me. You're weaker than me right now!" Cloud knew he was making it worse but he didn't care. Like this, Sephiroth could do nothing to hurt him even if he wanted to.

Sephiroth considered trying to throw the other man out of the room, but he finally decided that allowing him to continue would make him happy. It was hardly worth it but he'd try, at least, to bear with it. He tore the wet cloth off his forehead and lay down stiffly on the bed, drawing the covers up to his chin. The cadet smiled widely and for a second – a very quick second – he felt better.

For the rest of the day, Cloud took care of anything you could think of: emptying the vomit bucket (not as fun as you'd think…), getting more sheets and throwing the wet, sweaty ones in the wash, getting food and water for Sephiroth (he told the SOLDIERs he was sick too), putting a wet cloth on his forehead and rubbing his head when the nasty migraine came back full force. The General eventually relaxed and smiled whenever the cadet came back into the room…_smiled._ That wasn't 'nothing'. Sephiroth began to want the cadet's presence around and fidgeted in his bed when he wasn't in the room, his hazy mind too clouded for him to realize that Cloud would be back in moments. When he did come back, however, he pretended like he hardly noticed.

At some point in the afternoon, when the General had eaten and was considerably comfortable, the cadet lay down next to the man, placed his head on his chest and fell asleep quickly. Sephiroth could only assume that he hadn't slept in a while and encircled the smaller body with his arms. The little cadet was a source of extra heat, anyway. Sephiroth fell asleep soon after, his dreams happier than he could ever remember them being.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Sephiroth was woken by A) something familiar pressing against his hip and B) soft, erotic sounds that didn't come from him. His mind was so foggy that he couldn't place what was happening, and when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. The thought of being blind terrified him so his muscles turned to stone and he rubbed his eyes frantically to try and reactivate them. It didn't work.

He was brought back to reality when Cloud pressed his excitement again, this time closer to his own, because he'd climbed his way up to roll on top of Sephiroth's body. It was extremely painful but there was no way he would throw the blonde teenager off him, especially since his own half-unconscious body was responding avidly. He groaned when _someone's _hand snuck into his pants to rub erection boldly. If only he wasn't burning up to a million degrees…Cloud kissed his chest, devoid of any shirt to allow his skin to breathe, and the General found it hard to concentrate on anything but the hand and the pleasure building in between his legs. The boy rubbed himself against the General's thigh, making some seriously enticing noises and nipping the skin on Sephiroth's neck. The long-haired man tried to reach out to the cadet with one hand but his body refused to move. His sex was the only functioning part of his body. Figures.

"Cloud," he rasped. Cloud moaned as an answer and rolled fully atop the sick General who swallowed a yell of pain. Cloud's hands began working at his pants, pushing them down impatiently. Then his underwear disappeared as well and Cloud began venturing south, kissing as he went. Sephiroth gathered all the strength left in his body and dug his fingers into Cloud's hair, halting him just as his hot breath brushed against his cock.

"Wha…?" the cadet sounded far away and muffled in Sephiroth's ears. He brought Cloud's head close to his face and kissed him on the lips.

"I feel like I've just been run over by a truck, backed up on by the same truck and the beaten to death by the driver. I'd," he gasped for air, his swollen lungs stretching painfully, "love to do this, but some other time." He paused "Please."

Cloud seemed disappointed at first, but then resigned himself to snuggling close to the General, blushing again. Sephiroth couldn't see him but he felt that the cadet was warmer than usual. He hugged him tighter to his chest, his face pressed in his the blonde hair.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"I told you you'd get sick," Sephiroth sniggered.

"Shut. Up," Cloud seethed as he lifted the wet cloth to take a peek at the two SOLDIERs in the room; Zack and the General. They had both recovered and Cloud was officially the last person to be sick at Shinra. The sick ward was back to its original function, except for the room Sephiroth had occupied, which was now Cloud's bedroom until he recovered.

"…wait, how did you get sick Cloud?" Zack inquired, stunned. Cloud had made it a point to stay away from Zack while he'd been in the sick ward.

"…bad luck," he sighed.

**No lemon...yet. oh well.**


	7. Chapter 7

**_A/N: sorry for not updating sooner...Ive been busy I suppose. I still dont own FFVII. I've been trying, really, but I'm not rich so there's not much hope. I hope you like it, and remember guys, more reviews, more fuel, more writing. Go figure!_**

**Warning: serious mistreating of Zack in this chapter. he's just funny...**

A large platoon of men stared blankly at the huge, fifty-foot tall wall of junk built into the ravine. It cast a dark shadow over them all, and they could hear nothing other than the wind howling madly as it whistled through the cracks in the mountainside. At some point a coyote came snuffling over to them but a soldier was quick to shoo it off before it bit anyone.

General Sephiroth placed one of his large hands on top of Zachary Fair's head in what might look like an affectionate manner, but he made sure to apply an impressive amount of pressure on the SOLDIER's skull. Zack whined and tried to move away from the hand that was slowly but surely squishing his brain to mush, but quickly found out that it was near impossible. The General's death grip was…well, a death grip. Enough said.

"Zachary, would you please explain what the hell this is before I crush your head?" the General seethed darkly. Zack looked back at the platoon of men, looking for some reinforcements, but apparently the men were as disgruntled and angry as the General. He was suppose to find a way back to town for everyone and he'd missed the large red letters on the map that said "ROAD BLOCKED". It wasn't his fault. Sephiroth should have known he was unable to stay focused. If he still put him in charge of such a task it was his own fault!

"It's a barrage, helloooo," he snorted. The pressure on his head increased dramatically and he yelped; no one made a move to help him.

"No shit it's a barrage! What I want to know is why you brought us here if there's a damn wall of junk blocking the path."

The platoon yelled in agreement and a few of them threw gauntlets and boots in his direction; one boot hit him in the stomach and he would have doubled over had his head not been held firmly in place. The men were getting angrier and he even saw Cloud glaring heatedly at him, his face flushed from climbing up and down rocky paths as he followed Zack's directions. They were all tired and full of scratches and, if he guessed right, very hungry. Give it another hour and they'll eat me, he thought nervously.

"I might have missed the indications on the map."

The General let go of his head but warned him not to move an inch. He then pulled the map out of Zack's bag and looked it over too calmly before turning it around so Zack could see it. Sephiroth pointed at the place they were; half that particular region was covered in the warning about the blockage and written in bright red ink.

"This? This is what you missed? You'd better be blind, Zachary, or else…," the General warned, his voice dripping with murder.

"Not blind, sir." He found it prudent to address the General formally lest he decide to go through with killing him for his error. And Sephiroth did, in fact, draw closer dangerously fast, his boots clicking as they hit the rock underfoot and his hair waving dangerously behind him like a curtain. The men cheered and a coyote joined in with its long, wild howl. Zack backed away slowly, trying to remain calm but realizing that there was no way out of it unless he tried to scale the wall, which the General could probably climb way faster anyway. He was dead meat.

"Ah, General, it'd be a waste to kill Zack, sir," Cloud spoke up, sounding exasperated. The entire platoon turned to throw death stares at him but he ignored them coldly, his attention focused on his two friends who were about to kill one another…well, one was about to kill the other. Zack really had no hope of winning the fight.

"And what would we be wasting, Cadet?" snorted the silver-haired man. Zack opened his mouth to reply but he revised himself. Better let Cloud do the talking, he figured.

"…well, nothing, really, but…uh…," Cloud focused intently on the chore of finding a reason to keep Zack alive that would advantage Shinra. There wasn't much, figure, "You could use him as bait or a decoy. That's always useful."

Sephiroth seemed sufficiently amused by that reply to momentarily forget he'd been about to annihilate the spiky-haired SOLDIER. Zack, feeling rather offended and unloved, crossed his arms over his chest.

"You two should treat me better! I am not worthless; Cloud, I could kick your ass in a fight," he pointed out proudly.

"…wanna bet?" one of the men yelled out. Zack gaped at the crowd (not knowing who exactly had spoken up).

"Sure if you want to lose your money," he huffed. Cloud beamed as if he'd gotten praise from the gods themselves.

"I think he could," the General mumbled to himself. Unfortunately, most men heard him, Cloud and Zack being two of them. Cloud went from being happy to looking like he'd just found the answers to each and every existential question that had ever been. Praise from the General, to him – to anyone, really – was better than anything else.

"Well, I don't know…" the blonde gushed, a small smile playing at his lips.

"Hey, what is this? Ganging up on someone? That's low. No, it's completely immoral," Zack accused.

"When you've found a way to make 200 men angry at you, you deserve it," the General barked.

The argument ended soon after and they decided to try and scale the wall. It would take hours to get everyone over but it was faster than retracing their steps and taking another way to town. The men groaned but got to the task nonetheless, dragging their heavy packs as they climbed the immense mountain of junk as the sun sunk down in the sky. Sephiroth waited at the bottom, the Cadet close at his side, making sure everyone was doing okay and also keeping an eye on his Second-in-command. He was not to climb until everyone else had and he'd be carrying the extra food packs too. The General grinned as he thought of Zack lugging the astoundingly heavy food packs around until they reached town. And next time, he'd be navigating himself.

He felt a tug on his shirt arm and turned sideways, keeping one eye on the soldiers' progress at all times. He just couldn't keep his mind off work, even if he tried. Cloud smile and, when he was sure no one was looking, pushed himself up on the tip of his toes and pressed his lips against the General's, catching the taller one off guard. He wasn't one for public displays of affection, for sure. But the Cadet didn't move away until the General hesitantly kissed back; when he was finally getting into it, Cloud pulled away.

"…that's not nice," the General grumbled after making sure Zack hadn't noticed anything.

"I'll do it again if…" he paused.

The General waited a few seconds before losing his temper and waving his hand angrily.

"If what?" he hated sounding like an impatient child but he wanted another kiss whether his pride cared for it or not. He just wouldn't admit it. And he wasn't going to force anything on the Cadet either.

"If you say you love me," Cloud decided after thinking it over.

Sephiroth opened his mouth as if to say something, but no sound came out of his mouth like Cloud would have hoped. He'd somewhat turned it into a light-hearted joke, but he was sincere. He wanted to hear it. If the General didn't return his feelings then he'd have to break it off, no matter how much he resented the idea. He wasn't an emotional-masochist and didn't wish to suffer searching for love from a man who didn't have feelings for him. He watched the General's eyes intently, looking for some kind of emotion to flicker through them but he found nothing. They were 'cold', in a sense.

"Sephiroth?" he ventured slowly.

"Russell, your backpack is going to fall off," the General roared before walking to the wall and motioning at the tired-looking soldiers. When he was done warning the man he didn't come back to stand by Cloud's side.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Five hours later, everyone was settled into their rooms at the inn and the anger towards Zack was slowly dying down although he was consistently being tripped in the hallways. No one cared about his superior status anymore and wouldn't until they returned to Shinra. Sephiroth had gotten the largest room, complete with a huge bathroom and a balcony, while Cloud got the rudimentary room with nothing but a single bed and a lonely-looking window. He was lying on the bed, eyes glued to the ceiling, his heart dropped down into his stomach – which was churning angrily. He'd been looking at said ceiling for almost twenty minutes and he felt as though, should he decide to stand up, he would regurgitate all over the floor.

Finally he got up and decided he'd break it off then and there, without any more useless delay, and get it over with. There was no use procrastinating; he'd have to do it sooner or later. His father always did say now was better than later. Cloud met no one in the hallways as he padded to the General's room, thankfully, but he found himself in front of the dark-wood door earlier than he'd planned. His whole body felt cold, frozen and made out of stone, and he couldn't get himself to knock. He just couldn't.

Luckily for him – or not, whatever – the door swung open on its own and out popped the General's head. He'd heard footsteps approach his door but not leave, and yet no one had knocked so he'd decided to check it out. He hadn't expected to see his lover standing there like a statue but he wasn't about to complain either. He smiled discreetly and leaned forward to grab on to the Cadet's small hand. He certainly didn't expect the blonde boy to pull his hand away and stomp into the room, asking him to close the door in a soft but determined voice. The General, as confused as he was, still managed to close the door as requested and then went to sit on his bed, hoping the Cadet would join him.

"…I'm not here to sleep with you!" the Cadet yelled loudly, forgetting that Zack was right next door and the only thing separating the rooms was a ridiculously thin wall. Sephiroth knew but didn't have the chance to point that out to the angered boy.

"Why not?" he sounded petty and he knew. But he wanted to spend the night with Cloud and being refused was not on his to-do list. And you do not fuck up General Sephiroth's to-do list.

"I told you back at the ravine," the Cadet snapped, "I'm not a whore or…whatever."

The General arched an eyebrow and scratched the back of his head, ashamed that he was slightly amused as much as he was distraught.

"I never implied that you were," he purred slowly, still trying to convince the boy to have sex with him. This was too long and too much work, he thought to himself.

"I sleep with people I love," he wanted to yell but it came out as a choked half-sob, "and who love me _back_."

_This again. _The General growled lowly and stood up, no longer hoping Cloud would tag along like he usually did. It was fully dark outside now and he stalked over to the wall to turn the light switch on; there were small, wet streaks on Cloud's pale cheeks. As much as he didn't want to, he felt bad. The Cadet hurriedly wiped his face with the back of his sleeve and turned his head away, which Sephiroth found a bit annoying, because he didn't _want _the light-haired boy to hide things from him.

He sighed heavily and walked up behind Cloud before slipping his hands around his waist and pulling him to his chest. The Cadet struggled angrily but he didn't loosen his grasp and the other man eventually gave up and lay limply in the General's arms, defeated.

"I don't just want to sleep with you," he tried to explain. He was pretty bad at it. "I like spending time with you."

"Do you love me?" the other retorted half-mad, half-sad. It was hard to tell which was predominant.

"I'm…happy when you're around. I feel calm. I think about you when you're not there – all the time," Cloud loosened in his arms even more, "I get mad when I hear you got hurt. I couldn't sleep while you were sick," the Cadet made a small noise, which Sephiroth didn't understand, but it didn't sound mad or aggressive, "and I'm scared of you never coming back to me."

"That sounds like love," he could almost hear the blonde smiling. How cheesy, he thought to himself with a disgusted shiver.

"Does it?"

"Yeah."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Zack, what's wrong?" – Cloud

"…" – Zack

"Zack?" – C

"Thin walls." – Z

"What?" – C

"The inn has thin walls." – Z

"So…?" – C

"I was hoping you and Sephiroth would get together but that was ridiculous." – Z

"…how do you know? – C

"All night long. All fucking night long. Non-stop. Couldn't sleep, couldn't close my eyes – the pictures I'd see!" – Z

"You heard?" – C

"You're damn right I heard! I wish I hadn't. I'm never looking at you the same way. How can you even walk?...no, don't answer that. You need to learn how to say 'no', Spiky." – Z

"Hey…you _listened_." – C

"You say it like I had a choice." – Z

"You did." - C

"I did not. You try sleeping with the radio blaring next to you ear all night; not to mention it was my _friends_! Please don't do it when I'm in earshot alright?" - Z


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: there's your lemon. I've been putting it off, sorry. but anyway...if you're not satisfied, I dont care : its 6AM, I cant sleep cause Im sick and I could really just about kill someone right now.**

**But R&R :)**

A naturally strong-built cadet sat in front of him, eyes sparkling mysteriously. Another cadet, much smaller and sporting a head full of red hair and a horribly freckled face hesitated before taking a bite into his ham sandwich. He was examining the Cadet in front of Cloud with suspicion; the other cadet blushed.

"Who'd you sleep with?" he snorted loudly as a group of thirds passed by. The other cadet's face turned as red as a tomato but he couldn't really argue. Cloud blinked, unaware of what was going on.

"You don't know what you're talking about," he finally replied.

"Ah, but I do," sighed the redhead, "now tell me – it's an instructor, right?"

Right again. The fittest of the three cadets sitting at the lunch table choked on his own sandwich and nearly spat it out on another passing third. He glared heatedly at his partner.

"What's it to you?"

"Whatever," snapped the redhead after a long silence. He then turned to Cloud, "The two of you won't ever be able to remember fondly back at your first time 'cause you did it in a hurry at a young age. Shame."

Cloud, who'd never told anyone he was having sex with the General, was just as stunned as the other cadet. Who was this guy?

"I do remember it fondly," he replied.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

_Cloud moaned as the heavier man on top of his landed heated kisses from Cloud's collarbone down to his chest, which at the time lacked a shirt – it was hanging off a lamp now. He couldn't help arching his back somewhat as Sephiroth took one hard nipple in his mouth, forcing another set of moans to force their way out of his kiss-reddened lips. He nipped and sucked at the small peak of hard flesh until the cadet was shaking under him, causing him to smirk._

_"Enjoying it?" he purred, knowing full well he was embarrassing the light-haired man. As he'd expected, the cadet didn't answer, only bit back a rather incoherent response. _

_He moved upwards again, keeping his cat-like eyes glued to the cadet's blue ones, and lifted the smaller man's hips with his hands so that their erections rubbed together through their underwear. Sephiroth, who did not make it a point to verbally express excitement, bit down on the fragile skin of Cloud's neck to keep from yelling out. His lust-hazed mind no longer allowed him to think clearly._

_Sephiroth kneaded his body with his large, battle-calloused hands and made his way south, caressing his lover's backside not-so-gently with one hand and attending to the tent in Cloud's boxers with the other. He pushed the offending material off the narrow hips, throwing them away without further ado and wrapped his hands around the cadet's hard shaft. _

_Cloud moaned the General's name repeatedly, and not always successfully, as the hand moved on his cock, the thumb rubbing the head mercilessly. He'd never had the pleasure to feel anything similar before in his life, and was almost too overwhelmed to properly enjoy it. _

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Maybe Kunei was right, maybe we rushed it too much," the cadet eyed Cloud with a worried expression. Cloud, who'd been previously thinking some rather heated thoughts, was snapped out of his musings against his will.

"No…"

xXxXxXxXxXx

_The head bobbed up and down at a constant but enticing rhythm, and paired with the tongue that swirled around his head and the sucking that constantly pried him to finish, were enough to drive him dangerously near temporary insanity. He dug his nails into the silky hair, trying to force himself deeper into the General's throat, yelling out when the man complied. The General eventually had to hold his hips in place to avoid too much movement on his part, and at one point one of the hands pinning him to the bed slid in behind him to pleasure his ass instead. _

_One finger, devoid of any kind of lubricant, forced its way inside him and he forgot all about the hot mouth around his cock for a second or two as pain shot up his spine. He groaned and tried to move away from the intruding digit, which was useless since Sephiroth was in any case strong enough to keep him pinned._

_"Relax," the General sighed, pushing long strands of his hair aside. _

_Cloud barely had time to get used to the one intrusion before another pushed and, and then another. He'd heard others talk about using cream or lotion to make it more comfortable – apparently the General didn't care for it much. It hurt and burned and it was frankly unpleasant. He opened his mouth to let out a pained whine, and only then did Sephiroth stop moving and looked up at him._

_"…you want me to stop?" by the tone of his voice the cadet guessed if he had to stop he'd be in one hell of a pissy mood. It didn't matter, in the end._

_"No."_

_The fingers continued to stretch him for a few moments, scissoring inside of him, and the General didn't stop until Cloud's moan went from being an indication of pain to an obvious sign of pleasure. Then he pulled the warm digits out, earning a whine from the blonde cadet, but the fingers were quickly and efficiently replaced; Cloud felt something hard and much warmer poke at his entrance and he felt his face heat up instantly. He was seriously going to do this?_

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Were you scared?" the cadet continued to question him. Cloud was getting tired of him following him around like a puppy and causing him to have these distracting thoughts. He'd already accidentally hit an instructor with his sword and almost fell off a balcony.

"No!"

It might have been a lie. He had been scared, looking back on it, but scared isn't quite as strong as pleasure or lust. Definitely not.

xXxXxXxXx

_The first few minutes were unspeakably uncomfortable; he shed a few tears, which the General rapidly wiped from his cheeks, and he pried the taller man to wait before moving. He hadn't known how much the General had to control himself, because if it had been up to him there would have been no delay at all. He'd be fucking the cadet and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Unfortunately, he couldn't bring himself to physically harm the cadet if he didn't wish it. _

_"M…move," the cadet ordered hoarsely. _

_Sephiroth did as he was told, for once, and pushed himself deep into Cloud's ass. He groaned and leaned forward to kiss the cadet's rosy lips as a kind of silent comfort, then began riding the smaller man without holding back. The heat around his cock was burning him, and he couldn't hold back now even if he tried, as his excitement level rose drastically. Watching Cloud's flushed face, hearing his raspy moans, seeing his eyes roll back was enough to push him to the edge of his self-control. _

_As for Cloud, he was holding back his release to the best of his ability, but when the General thick cock slammed against his prostate he came, eyes glued to the mako-filled ones of his lover. The General thrust a few extra times before coming himself, squeezing Cloud's hips until little purple bruises appeared where his hands were holding him. _


	9. Chapter 9

**Well, it's longer than usual...haha. And more serious. I'm trying it out, so, comments and/or help are very much appreciated!**

**Thank you to any faithful readers...yeah.**

* * *

The airship hovered above the platform, motors growling and wheels outstretched, waiting for the platform guides and crew – a bunch of random men who had talent for nothing in particular and were henceforth stuck with the miserable job – to get their shit together. Some were running around, waving fluorescent sticks above their heads; others were frozen underneath the airship, gawking at the huge thing. Most of them, however, were still inside their quarters because apparently the commander had forgotten to inform everyone of the change in the airship's arrival time. Whatever the reason, the large flying vehicle was hovering above the platform without being able to land properly, and the human cargo inside – which included Shinra and his son – was probably planning to fire the platform crew once they landed, if not outright kill them. The President was anything but patient, and his son wouldn't stand up for the insignificant crew unless there was something in it for him. The word selfish comes to mind.

The large mob of soldiers who were dispatched to the platform to greet the President and his peers were waiting a bit farther off, but they were within earshot of the landing spot. The younger soldiers were as stiff as a board, their guns hugged to their chests, while the more experienced ones were groaning and whining, feeling that they had attained a level of seniority high enough to test their commander's limits and not get discharged from the military altogether. They let their weapons sag in their arms and began to move out of formation, to the commander's great irritation: his squad's behaviour was his responsibility and he'd be held to blame if the President was dissatisfied. He was no pushover and he would show those arrogant first and second classes! The cadets and most of the third classes were silent, watching their elders bitch and moan silently.

"Shut up, all of you," hollered the commander as he waved his gun over his head menacingly. Most of the SOLDIERs were unimpressed and continued to chat, looking over the small-framed commander without a hint of fear. Poor commander Mark wouldn't get respect as his bigger, more muscular comrades who got stuck with things like arranging the parades or keeping the men in formation while they waited to greet one of the executives

"The President ain't looking at us anyway," a younger one defended himself, and Mark felt his face flush with anger.

"He probably fucking is, and you're all embarrassing me in front of him! I'm not letting you loud idiots mess up my career," he hissed through clenched teeth.

They were interrupted when shouts and yells sounded from the platform, and everyone turned to see if there were any new developments in the situation. Thirty or so men, suddenly popping out of the building glued to the side of the platform, joined the ones already running around and slowly they began to remember how to do their job and guided the airship to its landing spot as the crew prepared to put the ramp up. The cleaning team was also nearby, seeming as impatient as the soldier squad, although not as flashy in their dark red uniforms and black caps. The squads leaders exchanged exasperated looks before turning their attention to the people now exiting the airship.

President Shinra was the first to exit, his black suit a stunning contrast with the white-walled airship that served as his background; the President had a round belly, barely contained by his pants, a head full of slick blonde hair and eyes like those of a hawk. He walked like he owned the place – sadly, he very much did – and didn't give any indication that he was happy to be back in Junon. In fact he seemed angered, and not just by the poor execution of the landing by the crew. He swung his massive figure around when he reached the ground to face the soldier squad commander, who had marched his way to the indicated spot, followed by his men who had quickly snapped out of their boredom and disobedience.

"You're having problems controlling your men, Mark," snarled the President as he played with a greasy lock of his light hair.

There was a small crash, followed by a curse, before a younger, slimmer and much more handsome version of Shinra appeared at the airship's door, leaning heavily on the doorway. Rufus's secretary, a small girl who looked constantly on the verge of having a heart attack, had to slip his arm over her shoulder to help him down the ramp lest he fall over in what appeared to be a heavily drunken state. Her eyes darted nervously to the President as she set her employer down on a chair one of the crew had fetched for him. Mark prayed that this was enough of distraction to get him out of the accusations the President was throwing at him, but there was little hope.

"Damn it Rufus, couldn't you keep away from the bar for a couple hours? You're a shame," spat Shinra as he shot his son a death glare; the young vice-president giggled and waved his hand in the air in a dismissal motion.

"Get over yourself, daaaaad…"

He was completely out of it and so Shinra decided he wasn't worth his time anymore. He ordered the secretary to lead the vice-president to his appointed room and keep him there until he came to his senses, and not a second before. She walked away slowly, dragged down by Rufus's weight on her shoulders, and soon disappeared within the building. The President spun on his heels, faced the soldier squad and snapped his fingers; the soldiers exchanged looks, unaware of what they were meant to do. Shinra was clearly annoyed by their lack of reaction.

"Isn't this supposed to be a greeting party? They don't even know how to greet properly. Lovely."

The soldiers finally caught on and, on their commander's exasperated count, they began the well rehearsed routine they'd been practicing for a week in order to keep from disgracing themselves. Too late now. At least they managed to do the entire routine without a snag and the President found nothing about it to downsize.

"Mark, get your men out of here. I have to have a word with the men responsible for the landing crew…"

Mark was glad he was not said man. He turned to his squad, suddenly aware of the sweat covering his neck and forehead, but was too tired to bother scolding them.

"Fuck off, all of you. Don't wanna see any of you until tomorrow, keep that in mind."

The men dispersed and Mark was free to turn to the airship, his eyes examining the damaged-looking motor on the left flank of the ship. It was still smoking slightly and he wondered what might have caused this injury within the motor. If the President and his son were on some kind of ship, there were rarely any incidents, because if there were the pilot and the crew would get a life-changing beating they'd never forget, one of the Turk's specialities. Speaking of the Turks, half a dozen of them exited the plane in an orderly fashion, starting with a Turk with spiky, flame-coloured hair and ending with a blonde woman who smiled up at the sky for no apparent reason. Mark disliked the Turks and decided to return to his quarters before they spotted him; not that they hadn't already. They simply decided to ignore his presence.

Cloud had been in the President's greeting party and was very glad to be dismissed; the sun was beating down heavier than usual and his uniform had begun to stick to his sweat-slicked skin. He was glad to enter the soldier quarters, which had been blessed with air conditioning, and he returned to his bed in the farthest corner of the room. Because it was such a small group of them, the cadets had been grouped with the SOLDIERs for the sleeping arrangements and whatnot. They also ate together and shared the same trucks, which was new for the cadet, but not unpleasant. He didn't like Mark much, because he was a bit loud and full of himself, but he could have been stuck with worse.

This being the second part of his trial exam for the SOLDIER program, he had been one of the few who had stayed calm and obedient during the whole airship landing ordeal. He had finished his written exam and aced the combat part – which Sephiroth had attended, sitting in the VIP booth with a handful of executives and Firsts – and it was now the 'field work' portion. He hadn't been looking forward to being sent to Junon for a week just to greet an airship and then spend a few days looking after the president and his son the drunk. The President had brought his dogs – aka the Turks – with him anyway so their presence was as good as useless. He'd thought that field work would involve going into an area filled with monsters to clear out or an infiltration mission, but no. It might as well have been called 'obedience evaluation', because all he had to do was show he was ready to receive orders and do as he was told. Not very challenging. The other eight cadets who'd also been sent to Junon for their evaluation were just as disgruntled as he, and most still hadn't come back to the room. Cloud was alone in the room for quite a while, actually.

He didn't notice he'd fallen asleep until he was shaken awake by a rough hand. He jolted upright in his bed and turned confused eyes to the scarred face to my left, seeking answers. He nodded in direction of the door, and Cloud saw that everyone else was getting dressed and putting their gear on. He groaned and rubbed his temples, attempting to chase the headache that plagued his groggy mind. He was still tired, but the others had probably slept less than he had so he rolled out of his bunk and blindly went around in search of his clothes. It was only a few minutes later that he remembered that he hadn't undressed last night and he was wearing them on his body. He grabbed his gear from under the bed and hurried out the door behind two other cadets, noticing that it was now dark outside and he'd probably slept longer than he thought since he'd gone to bed around two in the afternoon. He was unable to ponder it further, however, as he arrived in a small rectangular room where Mark stood clutching a rather massive gun, dark circles clear under his eyes.

"Took you all long enough," he barked when everyone was sardined into the room, bodies meshed together uncomfortably. Cloud was nailed to the wall by a six foot tall second class wearing a helmet much too large for him; it fell crookedly to one side, showing tufts of black hair on the side opposite of his head.

People were actually too tired to argue so they stayed silent.

"Rufus requires our presence tonight," he explained in slow-motion, "so hurry up and follow me. Stay in formation, all of you, or so God help me…"

No one wanted to know what kind of messed up thing the President's odd son wanted them to do so Cloud and his comrades kept their mouths effectively shut and followed their commander in a perfectly aligned group. They looked awfully straight for a squad that had just gotten out of bed, but it was for the best, Mark thought as he lead his soldiers out of the building and out to a long stretch of apparently useless road. It was lined with a rusted metal fence on the side leading out to the ocean but they were able to cast glances at the silver water as it rose and fell and washed up on the beach. Even Mark liked the ocean, and that was saying something.

They were forced to detach their attention from the mass of turquoise liquid when Rufus, wearing a black suit – unusual since he normally preferred his white one – and followed by the redhead Turk and another one with a bald head and wearing sunglasses. At night. His secretary was also there, half hiding behind her employer and still in her pyjamas. The Turks looked wide awake and Rufus came over with a smile plastered on his face, flashing his perfectly aligned white teeth. He waved his hand at the soldier commander as if acknowledging him and the squad began to feel as though something was off. Why was the vice-president requesting their presence in the middle of the night, looking unusually happy? Cloud didn't like it and neither did the guy on his left, from what he could hear as he muttered under his breath.

Despite the commander's efforts to get some information out of the vice-president, and he did try very hard, Rufus just kept shrugging and eventually stopped smiling; he ordered them to get into the big airship (albeit smaller than the one that had landed previously) without a word. Cloud hurried up the ramp with his fellow cadets, eyes glued to the President's son whose eyes betrayed something that made him shiver. Whatever was happening, it couldn't be good, especially if the commander didn't know.

They took a seat along the walls of the airship and waited. Mark came in first, followed by the vice-president, who was himself flanked by his Turks and secretary. They took a seat in a more formal area with real chairs and a wooden table. There was a loud rumble, followed by a violent shake that almost knocked Cloud off the bench entirely. They were departing, and so without the cleaning or landing crew. Mark turned to give his soldiers an alarmed look that meant 'if anything goes wrong, jump while we're over water'. Not that they'd be found or anything if they were stranded in the middle of the ocean in between two far apart continents…

"Would you be so kind as to tell me what's going on here?" the commander hissed impatiently, shrugging off the Turk's warning glares. Reno was toying with the holster for his gun and Cloud had the reflex to grab for his own weapons; defend the commander, not the Turks.

"Be patient, commander," Rufus was clearly trying hard not to snap. "We're going to Gongaga; not too scary for you, is it?"

The commander relaxed a little; Gongaga wasn't exactly a warzone. His squad, although still restless, followed their commander's lead and the atmosphere lightened considerably. Cloud frowned, letting his eyes trail away from the redhead Turk – why did that town sound so familiar? He'd never been there, that much was for sure. Maybe he'd call Zack and ask him when he had the time and if he found some reception on board.

--Oh, Zack. Gongaga was his hometown; the First had told him not too long ago at a bar. The cadet might have been too intoxicated to properly retain the information, but he was glad now that he had decent memory. Maybe he'd visit his friend's parents, if he got some time off while in Gongaga.

Then it occurred to him that this might very well be a part of his field test, designed to actually put him and the other eight cadets to the test in a real life situation. Had it not been for the vice-president and the confused look on Mark's face, he would have been sure of it. However, it was unlikely that Rufus Shinra was going to put on an act and travel to Gongaga just for the cadet field test…totally improbable. Cloud had heard that Rufus was irresponsible, a heavy drinker, unfocused and, to a certain extent, perverted; plenty of reasons to point out that he wasn't here for the measly cadets.

The airship soared through the night skies for hours, motors rumbling quietly. Cloud could see the outside through a tiny circular window right above his left shoulder and he gazed through it for most of the trip, entranced by the crystalline waters underneath. The moon was a full round circle of pale white light that reflected off the ocean's persistent waves, the only light from outside; the airship only had one lamp and it lit only in Rufus's spot.

Said vice-president had his eye on Cloud, it would seem, but the cadet didn't notice at first. Then there was a rough nudge in his sides and his head snapped up to look at his fellow cadet, frowning.

"Rufus has been looking at you for like an hour. What did you do to make him mad?" the other cadet snorted. Malcom – always laughed at everything.

"I've never even met him! I don't know…"

He wondered for a fleeting moment if Rufus knew about him and the General, which would be reason enough to stare at him. And if that was the case, the Turks knew of his relationship as well because they were staring at him too – if not openly glaring. Mark was sending him an annoyed look mixed with some confusion and Cloud bit his lip before shaking his head in his commander's direction, praying the man understood his silent message. The commander shrugged in response and went back to sipping his cold coffee, eyes downcast.

The airship landed just as the sun illuminated the continent in golden morning light. The entire vehicle shook as it hovered above the ground and then plopped down unceremoniously in the middle of a clearing surrounding by a dense forest. Only when the captain had turned off the motors and the small but very fast engineers onboard had put down a ramp did the vice-president rise and exit the ship in his usual regal manner of walking. Commander Mark ordered them to follow him out but it was obvious he was disgruntled and starting to get worried again.

Cloud instantly detested the forest surrounding Gongaga, as it was incredibly dense and the tree roots rose many feet into the air, forcing them to climb. Rufus, of course, had his own little truck which his Turks had the privilege of using too, so it was just the cadets, Mark and his imprecise map. He squinted when trying to read it and they went around in a couple of circles before finally making it out of the forest and entering the little town.

The commander, once they had entered the town and he was summoned to the inn, sent his squad on break and the fifty or so men dispersed in various directions, some in groups and others alone. It then occurred to the blonde cadet to call the General, who expected him to fill him in on what was going on anyway, while he was on break. Gongaga was a far cry from the big city but it surely had _some _kind of reception.

He dialled the General's number, which as far as he knew only he, Zack and the President had, and listened to the high-pitched ringing. One ring, two rings, three rings…

"General Sephiroth speaking," he sounded downright bored and Cloud guessed he was just out of a meeting, or still in one.

"Hey," he muttered awkwardly. It was the first time he called Sephiroth on his cell phone and for some odd reason it was gnawing at his nerves – he never did like speaking on the phone. He hoped he wouldn't have to introduce himself, and thankfully the General recognized his voice quickly enough; he perked up a little.

"Oh, Cloud…how are you doing?"

"I'm, uh…" How was he? He'd been airlifted out of Junon by the President's own son and dropped down into a half deserted town without any explanation. Then again, he wasn't harmed in any way…yet.

"Is something wrong?" worry laced Sephiroth's low voice no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

"I'm fine. It's just…could you look at the description for my field test? You can do that right?" he prayed the General could. Sephiroth was allowed pretty much anything but maybe he hadn't the time.

"I can…why?"

"Just do it, please?" he nibbled on his lower lip until it turned blood red. He listened to the soft rustling of papers as the General looked through some files, although it sounded distant. The phone was then picked up again and Cloud could hear the General's soft breath against the receiver again.

"Go to Junon, greet the President once he lands, stand guard, come back. One week duration. Overseen by Commander Mark…that's about it, Cloud. Will you tell me why, now?"

He hesitated; this sounded a lot like a secret operation. If Sephiroth himself didn't know about this, it was definitely suppose to be kept from Shinra ears. Maybe Rufus had chosen Gongaga because he figured, being such a small town and so far from the big cities, it wouldn't have cell phone reception. His phone did indeed flash the message 'weak signal' persistently.

"Because last night we were put in an airship with Rufus Shinra, two Turks and his secretary and now we're in Gongaga. No one knows why, not even Commander Mark. Is this some kind of snag to test us on field…?" he had to admit, he was hopeful. Sephiroth just had to say yes and all would be well. Let him say yes, he begged.

Only silence met him. For a long time the General said nothing, leaving his lover to frown and call out to him in an increasingly worried voice.

"Cloud, whatever's happening, it's not good."

Cloud felt his heart rate increase dramatically and he suddenly felt very hot, as if the mako in his body was reacting to his panic.

"Rufus had been having a fight with his father lately and he threatened to take action against him if he didn't give in to his demands, whatever they are. This might be it," the General's voice was no more than a low, dangerous growl.

"What should I do!?" the cadet practically yelled into the phone in panic. Calm was out the window now. He didn't want to die out here in a little town he didn't know, far from the people he loved and even before becoming a full SOLDIER. He'd run for it if necessary but since they'd spent hours flying over the ocean he guessed he was no longer on the same continent as Midgar. He couldn't steal the airship either unless the other soldiers helped him to, either.

"Wait there. I'll alert the President and he'll no doubt send his men there. It won't be to save a platoon of fifty men, no, but there's no way he'll allow his son to get away with this. It could take a day or two, however…be careful, Cloud. I don't know why he brought you all there but it cannot be good."

Cloud stared emptily at an empty crate decorating the side of the road, surrounded by shards of broken glass. He was clutching the little device so hard in his hand that it cracked; he quickly lightened his grab on it before he broke it completely. Cloud remembered something with a jolt and brought the phone back to his ear.

"Sephiroth, while we were on the airship…" he paused, weighing his words carefully.

"Yes?" Sephiroth sounded strained.

"Rufus was staring at me for a long time – so were his Turks. I know one of them is Reno," he pictured the redhead in his mind. The only reason he knew him was because he sometimes came to chat with Zack.

"Reno's bad news," Sephiroth spat with venom, "all the Turks are. Keep away from all of them. He could be out to get me through you, but," it was the General's turn to pause, "Never mind. Please be careful," he whispered the last bit. Cloud waited for a few seconds, wondering if Sephiroth might say it on his own for once; he was disappointed, as usual.

"I will. I love you," he half-whispered as two soldiers walked past and threw him smirks. Apparently he hadn't whispered enough.

"I love you too."

And then the line was cut. The Cadet stared at the phone for a minute before slipping it into his pocket. He then hurried over to the small agglomeration of houses, remembering his plans to visit Zack's parents – he had the time now. Plus, if he was going to die soon he might as well have done this. He looked at the houses and counted only about a dozen of them at the most. A small town, just like Nibelheim, the cadet mused.

On his seventh try the door was opened by a tired-looking woman with small but tight wrinkles around her blue eyes and wearing a distinctive yellow apron. He could see a tall, well-built man hovering behind her and knew instantly whose parents they were: the resemblance was uncanny. The woman stared at him expectantly, annoyed that this man was interrupting her and didn't seem to have a good reason for it.

"Hi, I'm Cloud Strife," he managed to squeak out, "I'm a friend of your son's…Zack?" he tried. If he was wrong then he'd look like a proper fool.

The woman's eyes widened somewhat but her mouth remained a tight line; she looked around like a watch dog, alert, before pulling the cadet into the house and slamming the door closed. They had several locks on the door and she locked them all without hesitation while the man led the young man to the living room to sit down at the table.

"How is our son? Is he doing well? They've intercepted our mail so we don't get letters from him anymore…" the woman whispered sadly as she poured some green liquid into a cup for him. The couple was staring at him expectantly, clearly expecting him to be telling them bad news.

"He's doing very well," the cadet assured the parents as he sipped the tea. Sweet.

"Still a second class?" the woman mused with a small laugh that reminded Cloud of a dog sneezing. The cadet arched one eyebrow in confusion and set the cup down.

"Second? No, he's a first now; the General's Second-in-Command, in fact," their stunned expressions told him they weren't lying about the mail being intercepted. But, why? There was a reactor here, sure, but it was small and besides, every town had one.

"How long has the mail been intercepted?" he ventured. Zack's mother shook her head and her eyes seemed sad, of not downright depressed. He'd have to get Zack to visit her when he got back to Midgar – if he ever got back.

"Oh, a few years maybe. I thought, since Shinra is the one stopping the mail, Zack must know why we haven't answered his letters, if he did send any. I see they hide things from even their own soldiers."

Like anybody else she talked of Shinra with hatred, disdain and raw fury for what it had taken from her, destroyed, stolen. She was old enough to remember a world without mako reactors and military men stationed at every corner, holding guns and fully allowed to shoot and kill. She might have been like Cloud's mother, torn to see her only son leave the house to go to Midgar chasing a dream. Cloud began to wonder why he shouldn't hate Shinra too. Because Sephiroth was a part of it? Because Zack and all his friends were there too? That hardly seemed like a suitable reason.

"Has anything strange been going on recently?" he inquired further, deciding he'd pick up some information for his General. He probably already knew about the mail being stopped but then again, it was possible he did not. If Rufus was able to airlift into the town without the President knowing, then the President wasn't in control of Gongaga. The cadet began to shiver and fear set into his mind once more.

"Recently?" it was Zack's father who had stepped in to answer. "Well, an airship landed today, with the vice-president in it if I'm not mistaken. Weren't you in that ship?" he was frowning now. Cloud swallowed a lump in his throat painfully and nodded.

"We were airlifted here without notice and I contacted the General to inform him about it. He says no such thing was scheduled, and that it could be dangerous."

He had no idea why he was telling Zack's parents all this. Maybe because, as citizens of Gongaga village, the faith of the little town affected them. Or maybe because it had to do with Shinra, which their son was part of, albeit their obvious hatred for it.

"The vice-president has been here often for the past few months. He drops by for a few days and then leaves – we never know why. He meets with the Professor, that much we know for sure," the man stated thoughtfully.

"The Professor?" Somehow that sounded bad to the cadet.

"Yes, the scientist. He's not here all the time either, but when he is we stay away from him. He scares me," the woman admitted as she placed some cookies on the table as if to break up some of the anxiousness they all felt.

Cloud had ever known one Professor, and that was Hojo, the scientist who had put a giant mutant tiger in the General's bedroom; Sephiroth had also told him how Hojo had poked and prod him as a child, conducting some rather dangerous experiments on him without fear for the boy's health. Instantly he'd hated Hojo all the more. Hojo, most assured him, was nothing like his precedent, Gast, which Cloud had never personally met; Sephiroth remembered him, however vaguely, and had fond things to say of him.

_Hojo is psychotic. Something went terribly wrong when that man was born, or someone messed with his head, I assure you. Stay away from him, he means harm in every pore of his skin. He'll tie you to a metal table and cut you just to see how loud you scream, and no one will be able to help you because Shinra needs him. Without Hojo, Shinra isn't going anywhere._

He remembered his lover's warning with ease. But would Hojo really be here? He was definitely the only scientist at Shinra, excluding the lab workers and apprentices, but there was the problem: he worked for Shinra. Would he become a traitor?

_For money and recognition, probably_, Cloud thought with a scoff. Good thing Hojo had a wild appearance or it might be difficult to enquire about his presence in the village.

"Does the Professor have long black hair tied in a ponytail and walk around with his hands behind his back?" _And does he cackle like a damn maniac and smile when he sees children crying?_

"Yes, that's him," the woman seemed thoroughly impressed that he'd been able to tag a name to the face he'd yet to see.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Well, men, uh…I still don't know what's going on," the Commander nodded to himself absent-mindedly as the cadets yelled and shrieked in indignation.

They'd been in Gongaga for a few hours now and the soldiers were quite frankly bored; they'd explored every inch of the place and had now nothing left to do but await orders. Mark had finally been excused from the inn and had called the men over at the other end of the village as if to get as far away from the Turks as possible.

"However, I think you might want to know that this was not scheduled. It's not a test or an ambush exam – whatever's happening, it's real. No use getting mad 'bout it…"

One of the soldiers, a burly third class, yelled out in frustration.

"What the hell did they say while you were at the inn? You must know something! I'm not staying in this hole for a week just because Rufus decided to be a bigger asshole than usual," he yelled.

"Watch your damn mouth," Mark hissed in a low voice, motioning for them to speak in smaller voices. "We might not be on a briefed mission but I'm still your superior. If you must know, I was told to wait in another room after we talked for five minutes. As far as I know they were just talking with some village folk."

The soldier who had screamed shook his head and threw his weapon in the air in his rage; it twisted in the air, glinting under the sun, and the nearby soldiers pelted out of the way before the weapon could spear them. Mark was just too tired and restless to even care and did nothing except throw the soldier a disapproving look. He then proceeded to jump off the truck he'd been using as a podium and made to return to the village. Cloud was quick to move in front of him and said they needed to talk. Mark frowned but accepted nonetheless – he'd nothing better to do.

"Sir, there's a few things you should know," he began nervously.

Mark said he was listening and the cadet told him everything he'd learned from Sephiroth and Zack's parents, putting an accent on Hojo's presence in the village. The Commander, judging by the violent shivers that preyed on his body at Hojo's name, was as fond of the scientist as the General was. He nudged Cloud behind a building to make sure nothing was overheard.

"You're sure of what you're telling me? Lying or giving unreliable information to a superior is a serious offense, cadet."

"I'm not – I'm not lying!"

"Then there's nothing we can do about it," declared the Commander after a pregnant pause. He jerked his head sideways and made to rub some sweat off his brow with his dirty sleeve.

"Sir?"

"There's nothing we can do, cadet, except wait for the help the General promised. Half a day has gone by already, so even if we are in danger the backup will get here soon. Try not to worry."

_Even though he says that…he looks pretty scared himself._

Cloud watched the Commander shuffle away, still wiping his face with his shirt as though he wasn't going to sweat some more in a minute. He then came out of the building's shade himself and decided to go rest near the trees where the shade was plenty and all the other cadets had gathered, huddled close together and talking.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

They landed in Gongaga at three pm the day following Cloud's call to the General, two hundred men and the General himself. The President was, in a word, furious when he heard that his son had taken off incognito with _his _soldiers and, as Sephiroth had hoped, he took immediate action. The airship itself landed quite a few miles from the town just to they wouldn't alert Rufus and his men to their presence and give them time to bolt. Sephiroth was at the head of his temporary army, pressing them on as fast as they could handle through the forest until they reached the small town. Zack wasn't able to come; if the General was to perish in action, Zack was his immediate replacement. It would have been unwise to bring him, regardless of how easy the mission seemed. The First had been dismayed to hear that he wouldn't be able to visit his parents, and wanted to go in Sephiroth's stead, but the General wanted to go himself and skin the vice-president.

They arrived and found not what they had been expecting – the village was deserted. They checked every house, every store and every corner but they found not a soul. It didn't look like there had been much of a struggle either, for they found no broken plates or windows in the homes or signs of guns having been fired. A sense of dread filled the silver-haired General who decided to post half the men in the village and take the other half with him to find the villagers and the missing soldiers.

The forest around Gongaga was a lot of territory to cover, and for hours and hours they searched for anything that might indicate human presence. When night time came, and the moon rose in the black sky, they returned to the village, completely demoralized; even the General found nothing to say. Worry and panic were threatening to overcome him and, in order to keep from doing anything he might regret later on, kept quiet. Sephiroth picked up his mostly unused cell phone and dialled the third number on his contact list – President Shinra.

"President Shinra's office," his secretary's voice answered. He muttered his name and, with a quiet gasp, she put him through instantly.

"Sephiroth?" he guessed.

"There's no one here."

He made a quick status report of what was around them – which wasn't much – and in a few seconds was finished. He heard the President swear to himself and take a sip of whatever it was he was drinking. Sephiroth could hear Tseng breathing behind the President as usual, but his breathing was erratic in comparison to the usual. Two of his Turks had fled from his command and the Turk commander had been forced to take a lie detector test to prove he was telling the truth when he said he didn't know Reno and Rude were going to Gongaga. The other Turks at Junon hadn't the faintest idea either.

"I contacted all the docks and air station on that continent and they're not letting anyone get away. They're still on that continent, Sephiroth."

That meant 'search every last cave and under every rock until you find them and don't come back until you do'. Since Rufus had Cloud with him, he certainly wouldn't be going back empty-handed.

"They came here in an airship, Shinra. A private one," he pointed out in a hiss. How could Rufus have stolen out of Junon in an airship and still have every staff member in the city remain oblivious?

"We've confirmed that the airship is back in Junon. There was no one on it except the pilot, and he claims he never saw anything. He just got paid a lot of money by the Turks to fly and then come back."

That was good news. It meant Rufus and the men were stuck on this continent, and although it was a big one, there was nowhere that drunk vice-president could hide where Sephiroth wouldn't find him. If anything he was just going to make his death more slow and painful when the General found him.

"And Sephiroth, don't hurt my son. Just get him back here."

The General made to shut off the phone when he heard the President clear his throat and call him back.

"One last thing, Sephiroth. Hojo has been missing for two days, as well. No one knows where he is or why he left, but it's not the first time he leaves unnoticed for a couple of days so it may be nothing. I just thought you may want to know."

Knowing how badly the General hated the mad scientist, the President made it a point to mention Hojo to, if anything, fuel his General's anger. The angrier he was, the sooner he'd find his son and put an end to this. Shinra honestly didn't care where Hojo was, because he would always come back.

xXxXxXxXxXx

It had been two weeks; two weeks since they'd landed in the small deserted town by airship, two weeks since Sephiroth had called the President. They had found nothing and Sephiroth was completely out of his mind to the point where a First named Vincent took his place as the leader – not that the soldiers didn't obey Sephiroth, but said General was too temperamental to think straight. They were entering Nibelheim now, Cloud's hometown, and when Sephiroth realized that the waves of fear hit him fully again. He was so upset that without another word to Vincent or his men he shut himself up in the inn and lay face-down on the bed.

A few hours later, there was a tentative knock on the door. He didn't respond. The door opened regardless and Vincent popped into his room in a hurry, seeming more excited than he had in a long time.

"General sir, we've found a lead!" the temporary Commander spewed as he neared Sephiroth's bed. He jumped back quickly when the General shot out of bed, suddenly filled with renewed energy, and demanded he tell al he knew.

"The townspeople said a large group of men went around the town a few weeks ago and were headed for Mt. Nibel. It has to be them!"

Sephiroth snatched Masamune up and tied it to his back as usual before grabbing Vincent by the back of his shirt and dragging him down the stairs, ignoring the man's wails of pain as his head collided several times with a corner or wall. Once they were out in the fresh air, he made his way to the center of the town square. Since most of the men were off chatting with some local girls or exploring the area, he felt the need to call them to his side; Sephiroth was back into gear and play time was over.

"Soldiers, ATTENTION," he barked in a relatively harsh voice that promised pain and suffering to any poor soul that did not magically appear in front of him within the next three seconds. Fortunately enough, his men knew better than to mess around with his patience and they all lined up in front of him, clicking their heels together and 'yes sir!'-ing simultaneously.

"We're off to Mt. Nibel, so get your shit and let's go."

The soldiers scattered to get their things together and then returned to their General's side. The reaction to 'The Demon of Wutai's Sudden Comeback' was divided between relief of having their lives put in more capable hands and dread at realizing that he'd be riding their asses the entire away. At least they felt as though there was hope of finding Rufus and their comrades now.

They hurried to Mt. Nibel, Sephiroth leading them with the nervous Vincent shadowing his every move. The General slew any monster they met with an impressive force, determined to save Cloud without wasting a single second. They found nothing on their way up to the reactor, and once they arrived, Sephiroth sent some men inside to investigate the area; however, before they could enter, Sephiroth spotted an innocent-looking boot a little ways off. He halted the men before they could enter and went to examine it carefully. It was a soldier boot, and it wasn't any of his men's. He looked around for more clues, and that's when he spotted the small ladder nestled in between two massive tubes, almost impossible to spot had you not been standing in the General's exact spot. He came to the conclusion that someone had left the boot there as a clue for anyone who came to their rescue – it might even be the blonde cadet's. He whistled to the men and pointed to the ladder.

"I'll take thirty men up with me," he instructed and watched as thirty volunteers quickly stepped up, eager to prove themselves in front of the General. They knew not that he really didn't give a damn who came and how they performed. He wanted Cloud back in Midgar _now_.

Sephiroth climbed up the ladder first and the soldiers followed him obediently. There was a small fenced platform at the top, too small to fit more than one man, and a small door. It was locked. The General growled.

"Sir, I know how to pick locks, if you could just move over-"

The General ignored the mousy soldier and slammed into the door with all of his force –which was, undoubtedly, very much indeed -, which in turn sent him barrelling into the building head-first. As nimble as a cat he managed to roll so as to break his fall and stood up smoothly, totally unscathed. He heard one of the younger soldiers clap. Sephiroth pressed his index finger to his lips briskly to get the soldiers to be quiet.

They were in a part of the reactor, that was for sure; long tubes made of a combination of iron and a hard rubber-like substance jutted out of the ground, which was actually a pool of glowing green mako, and they were stepping on thin red pipes, searing hot to the touch. They had to keep moving constantly or their soles would burn; a Second was quick enough to show them that when his shoes literally melted and he had to hop back outside. They hurried over the pipes cautiously and finally entered a room with a proper floor and ceiling and walls. The first thing that caught their attention were the two Turks sitting nonchalantly on tipped-over chairs; when the soldiers entered, the Turks almost fell out of their chairs and dashed across the room, reaching for their weapons, but Sephiroth was quicker. He slid Masamune out of its sheath and sent it soaring in the air in Reno's direction, and the sword embedded itself deeply into the man's leg, spilling blood onto the immaculate floor. Reno fell to the ground with a loud thud and a grunt and Rude, being the wiser of the two, simply put his hands in the air and shook his head.

"Long time no see, General," Rude said politely, bowing his head.

"Tell me where Rufus is," he growled, moving to retrieve his blade from Reno's leg, "And you two better be ready to get fired. Tseng and the President aren't happy."

He was curious as to why the Turks had 'deserted' Shinra in favour of Rufus in whatever scheme he'd cooked up. Maybe he offered them a better paycheck but it was unlikely; Turks were notorious for sticking together through thick and thin. Once a Turk, always a Turk…

"Rufus ain't here," Reno sputtered as he picked himself up off the ground and limped to stand next to his partner, still unarmed. "But the scientist, he is. Mad as can be, though."

He couldn't be talking about anyone other than Hojo. And then thought of Hojo within a mile radius of Cloud, with or without his nasty tools and scalpel, ignited a white flame of rage in the pit of his stomach, turning his eyes a shinning green. He retrieved Masamune from the floor and wiped the blood off on his coat; he wanted to see Hojo's disgusting blood dripping off the six-foot weapon. His grip on the sword's hilt was so tight that his knuckles turning snow white and, had it been a regular weapon, it undoubtedly would have been crushed to pieces. He flipped off the Turks, told half of the men to stay and keep the Turks stored inside the room and then moved to the next room, the rest of the men trailing after him nervously. Anyone who had had mako injection with the charming professor were looking forward to decorating the walls in his blood just as much as the General himself.

The next room was, in a word, huge; they could barely see the other end. A dozen or so identical metal tables, equipped with leather straps (most likely to tie down arms and legs) and a table filled with medical and surgical instruments, stood at attention on either sides of the room. Three massive translucent cylinders were fused with the West wall, filled to the brim with shinning green mako, and there were bodies encased within them. Finally, a rather large cage was incorporated with the north wall and already the General could see most of the missing men lying in them. None seemed to be moving even though their rescue party was making ample noise. The tables, although horribly bloody, were all cleared of bodies.

The General went to examine the tables first, eying the razor-sharp knives and odd contraptions with a shiver as his memories flashed before his eyes. Try as he might, he could not banish them to the back of his mind as he usually did – not this time. The blood on the tables, he noted, was dry but still considerably fresh. The fact that no limbs or slices of skin lay about was only a small consolation.

He then moved to the curious glass cylinders filled with mako, something he had never seen in Hojo's lab prior, and immediately wished he hadn't. One body floated alone in each of the tubes, the first one being Commander Mark, the second one a dark-haired Third class and the final body was none other than Cloud's; all three of them were unresponsive as the soldiers tapped the glass of the tubes, calling out to them. Sephiroth struggled to keep calm but as nothing seemed to awaken the three men, something inside him snapped. He brought Masamune out a second time.

"Move away from the tanks!" he barked impatiently, and was relieved to see that the soldiers complied fast. He drew the sword back and swung.

Mako spilled all over the steel floor and the blonde cadet fell on the ground with a dull thud. He did not move or say a word, only lie there with his eyes cracked open. The General, more out of good measure than anything else, opened the two other tubes and then ordered the men to move them out of the green liquid and check for vitals. To the soldiers' surprise, he took care of the cadet himself, laying him on the cleanest of the tables and listening for an intake or exhale of breath. When he heard nothing, he pressed his thumb to the large vein on the inside of Cloud's wrist, frantically searching for a pulse. He closed his eyes and, for the first time in his life, he prayed for something.

_Please don't let him be dead…_

He didn't hear the men yelling out, or the wails of pain and terror, didn't feel their hands as they touched his shoulder sympathetically. He wasn't aware that he looked completely broken and that the men were, for once, seeing him as a human, like them. He could only feel a horrible loneliness, not unlike he'd suffered from before, but more intense, stopping the very breath from entering his lungs. He let go of Cloud's wrist and couldn't look at the corpse any longer – he simply closed his eyes and kneeled down to the ground, tuning out everything. He would never have let himself fall in love if he'd known it would end like this. And then, for whatever reason there was, he slipped slowly and painfully into unconsciousness, and his body slumped to the ground under the terrified eyes of his men.

xXxXxXxXx

_"Sephiroth…"_

"What?"

_"Sephiroth, please wake up…"_

"Wake up?"

_"Please…"_

"I didn't know I was asleep."

_"Did I upset you?"_

"Who's talking?"

_"I'm sorry."_

Sephiroth jolted awake and immediately wished he hadn't. If he didn't know he hadn't consumed alcohol lately, one word would have come to mind: hangover. His head felt as heavy as if it was made of lead and he didn't dare open his eyes out of fear of light. He knew it hurt. He was drenched in sweat, that much he could tell, and it was slowly cooling down and his clothes stuck to his skin.

"You're awake!"

He felt arms wrap around his neck and he wondered who would dare do such a thing. Maybe Zack…no, the voice was much softer. It was familiar, though. But who…?

"I was scared," the stranger admitted close to his ear.

He chose to remain silent and tried to remember what had landed him in such an unfortunate situation. The last time he had passed out, he'd drank a bar out of alcohol because he'd just learned that Hojo was his father and he was trying to forget it. It didn't work but he did spend the next day swallowing painkillers, to Shinra's dismay. When a small kiss was placed on his jaw, his eyes snapped open and he grabbed the stranger by the throat, slowly choking them.

He let go as soon as he identified Cloud, letting the cadet fall to the ground, coughing. He realized that he must have been dreaming, because he remembered Cloud dying, and pain flooded his heart again. He lied down on the bed again, not caring about the dream-Cloud squirming on the floor.

"Sephiroth…? What's wrong?"

The cadet was standing a safe distance away from his bed, worry swimming in his deep blue eyes. The General huffed, waiting to erupt back into reality, thinking that indulging in dream-Cloud would just be rubbing salt in an open wound.

"You're dead," he stated flatly. He didn't expect the cadet to sit down on his bed and touch his hair hesitantly; he didn't have the heart to chase dream-Cloud away.

"No…you saved me," the cadet stated proudly, smiling.

"No I didn't. You didn't have a pulse anymore. I'm dreaming."

Dream-Cloud lay down next to him and lay one arm over his chest and his head next to his, breathing warmly on his neck. Did you feel hot or cold in dreams? The General couldn't remember. He felt the thick ice wall around his normally guarded self melting, as it had been over the past month, now barely more than a lukewarm puddle. If this was a dream, he wouldn't wake up. He would not allow anyone to pull him back to reality, ever.

"You don't trust me?"

He sat upright in his bed again, almost knocking his lover out of the bed. He looked around, momentarily disoriented, before noting that he was cold. And, most importantly, he wasn't dreaming. Cloud was alive. He turned around and yanked the confused blonde into his lap, pinning him there with his arms and burying his face in the golden locks.

"What happened?"

He could feel Cloud stiffen somewhat in his lap and the cadet's hands played with his shirt.

"What did Hojo do?" he snarled in anger. He hadn't killed Hojo, he remembered now, and he had never regretted anything as bad.

"…he was trying to make something. Something like you."

"Like me?" the General blinked.

"Rufus wants to overthrow his father, because Shinra took him off the will, but he doesn't have an army or anything like that. Hojo was going to turn us all into super-humans, he said, like you. '_Fifty General Sephiroths…no, better than the General_', he said. But for all he was confident, he didn't know what he was doing. He…" Cloud choked.

Sephiroth was _fuming_. Not only did the mad scientist persist in treating him like a measly laboratory experiment, but he was trying to make more monsters such as himself, and using live specimens for it! Cloud, no less! It crossed his mind that Hojo might have picked this one squad to test on because Cloud was a part of it. The professor always did seem to be oddly aware of what went on in the General's life, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. He was pretty much begging for a death wish.

"He injected most of us with something, and then they…died. Whatever he put inside them destroyed them from the inside out. As for me, and the commander, and Malcom…I don't know!" Cloud shuddered and rubbed his eyes with his fists, "He didn't say what he was doing but…I felt like I was choking, and my lungs were on fire. And then I zoned out, but I was still aware but couldn't move or talk. I saw you come in…I wanted to tell you I was okay."

Sephiroth cut him off but hugging him too tight to permit the younger man to speak. He then lay Cloud down on his former bed, got up after kissing him several times and turned around once he reached the door.

"I'm going to kill Hojo."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Again, thanks to anyone who has reviewed and please continue to do so!**

**I havent updated in a long time and I was confused writing this xD But anyway...tell me if it sucks (or doesnt).**

Reno gnawed at the green straw sticking out of his drink; he'd had to use one since Tseng had punched him in the face and mangled his mouth. He hadn't been fired, which was a good thing, but he wasn't much better off. They had placed a tracking device inside his head – yes, inside – to keep track on him, in the labs, and unless he slit his head open and dug around with his hands, there was nothing he could do about it. He'd found out that if he hit the device against a wall, a rather painful shock wracked through his brain.

"Think we better head back." That was Rude. Reno grunted.

"Head back for more guard duty? I'd rather not. That's SOLDIER work, yo."

He shifted in his seat and finished his drink. He looked around for Elena before remembering that she had gone back to headquarters an hour ago, at least. When had he begun to be so distracted all the time, anyway? Oh yeah. When he followed Rufus to that backwater town because he was mad at the Turk commander for unceremoniously dumping him. Now said commander was pissed at him, too. And Rude followed…why? Well, he owed the bald Turk a favour now.

"Let's go back yo," he sneered after a bit of thought. Rude raised an eyebrow but said nothing as he followed his partner out of the bar. They didn't see the two SOLDIERs stepping in the very same bar, completely unarmed, and they headed back to the Shinra building in silence.

Zack chose a relatively clean table and sat down, watching as Genesis did so as well. The red-headed First class wore his usual red coat, which was thrown over the mandatory SOLDIER uniform, while Zack preferred to change into 'normal people' clothes. But Genesis enjoyed bragging about his position in Shinra and intimidating civilians.

A young woman came to take their order, and Zack snorted when he heard Genesis order the girliest drink on the entire menu with a brilliant smile. He simply ordered a beer and checked his PHS to see if Aerith had called. She hadn't. Damn…

The girl came back a while later with their drinks, and Zack eyed the pink and yellow thing that was placed in front of the beaming Genesis. It even smelled a little bit like roses and strawberries blended together.

"Are you openly gay now?" he mumbled after swallowing a mouthful of beer. It tasted awful.

"What are you talking about?" Genesis huffed, swirling the straw through the drink. "I won't come here with you anymore if you just keep making jibes about people's sexual preferences."

"Just yours."

"If it weren't to get out of the building at any cost, I wouldn't have agreed to come, so count your blessings."

"This is a blessing?"

The waitress came back with a bowl of chips, dumped it in front of them and left, frowning. She must have heard them talking.

"I'm surprised our General didn't tear the Doctor to pieces, actually," Genesis smirked, "The President should be glad he's still alive."

"He won't be doing much with only one arm and a mangled leg," Zack pointed out.

Zack wasn't rooting for Hojo or anything, but he wasn't sure beating Shinra's best scientist for four hours was such a good idea either. He never thought much before he spoke or acted, but even he would have kept his temper in check. Then again, he wasn't there when it happened. He hadn't seen Cloud frighteningly close to dying in a tank of glowing, poisonous mako.

"That's _good_. All he ever did was hurt people, tear them open or torture them. They can still use his brain but now he'll have to rely on other, hopefully more sane scientists to actually do it. Don't look so grim, Zack, you're on break."

Genesis smiled and downed his drink in a few seconds, leaving only a bit of juice at the bottom of the pear-shaped glass and the straw leaning sideways against the rim.

"Cloud wasn't happy," said Zack.

"Is he ever? He's always frowning or blushing whenever I see him. What awful care you must be taking of him, Zack," he scolded with a shake of his head; Zack felt his face turn red and gripped the end of the table tightly. He'd forgotten, when he'd asked Genesis to tag along, that they just did not get along.

"Maybe that's because he doesn't like you. That would explain the frowning," he spat.

"And the blushing?"

"Shut up!"

Sephiroth watched as the paperwork was dragged out of the room by his new secretary, her long ponytail swishing behind her as she heaved. There was a lot of it. Even he, the great General of Shinra, was hit by the destructive force that was President Shinra's rage; he was assigned double paperwork duty and all his missions were cancelled. But that wasn't the worse part of his punishment – he was forbidden to see Cloud for an entire month. The poor _SOLDIER _was confined to a special wing on the other side of the building until Sephiroth's penitence ended. It was a shame, too, because he'd been looking forward to his first mission as a Shinra SOLDIER, and now he would have to wait, alone and confused, no doubt. He'd insisted that they didn't have to lock Cloud up, but the President laughed and said:

"It's easier to lock him up than you."

He found, as he observed his little mechanical clock, that he had some time to kill for the first time in days. In his spare time, he usually went somewhere with Zack or Genesis – Angeal never being one for outings – but both were gone already, leaving him behind. So instead he opened the lower drawer of his desk, which was opened only by a key he kept on his person, and pulled out a dozen or so glossy pictures that had been taken only days ago. He'd sent them to be developed as soon as they had been shot, but as per usual, his errand boy (the Puppy) had forgotten and so they'd only actually arrived at the picture shop last night. He hadn't properly _enjoyed _them yet.

A dozen shots of the wonderful Professor Hojo in various _uncomfortable _positions, sometimes tied down, his every pore screaming "get me the FUCK out of here!". He wished there had been someone to take the photographs while he was beating the shit out of the doctor, to see the full extent of his pain, for what he'd done to him and to Cloud.

He was interrupted by a dry knock on his office door, and he waited for his secretary to open the door; he quickly realized that she was off delivering paperwork and got up, pulling the door open violently. He was pissed off to find himself face-to-face with a tall blonde man wearing a white suit and a smug look on his face. He could sense more than see the four Turk not too far off, clutching onto their guns for dear life.

"Fuck off, Rufus," he spat. Since his little adventure, Rufus had fallen out of any grace his father ever given him and he, as well as his Firsts, no longer had anything to fear from him. The only reason the Turks stuck around was because the President was an even bigger asshole.

"And I thought we were on such good terms…" sighed the ex-vice-president.

"Wrong."

He saw Tseng roll his eyes from the corner; he was the only one who wasn't practically pointing his gun at the General. Unlike his underlings, he had a brain, and frequently _used _it like he was supposed to.

"What do you want?" he asked when he noted that Rufus wasn't going anywhere.

"I wanted to say that I'm…" he paused and a weird, pained look – like something was being shoved down his throat – crossed his face, "sorry for what happened to Private Strife. I didn't mean to harm your…toy."

When he saw Sephiroth screaming 'MURDER' with his eyes, he began to sweat and panic. He pointed to the Turks with a shaking hand and the four men froze.

"It's THEIR fault, Sephiroth! They knew who Cloud was and they didn't tell me, you see, so it's all their fault. Please don't kill me…KILL THEM!"

Apparently the four Turks decided to reconsider where their loyalties lay, because after yelling indignantly they left, claiming that they didn't care what happened to him and wished Sephiroth all the luck and lack of mercy in the world. Rufus actually started to cry.

"It's not just about Cloud, _sir_. If you'll remember, many good and honourable soldiers died because of you, and they happened to be my men, and not yours. As you can see, your father left you to rot, which is more than you deserve, the Turks have left you alive and I suggest you get the fuck out before I decide to send you to the Lifestream regardless of whom you will annoy to death there," he snapped before slamming the door closed in the blonde's face. Wow was he ever proud of himself that the man was still alive.

He went to bed soon after, and when he woke up, he was surprised to find that his apartment smelled of bacon, eggs and toast; his caterer didn't do breakfast, so he usually stuck to bland cornflakes and questionable – at best – orange juice. He briefly wondered who had gotten in (his door required a password or special keycard) as he made his way to the kitchen. When he saw Cloud moving around the stove in pyjama pants and nothing else, he turned to go back to bed and wake up properly.

"Sephiroth…? Where are you going?" the soft voice asked. He turned to see Cloud clutching a plastic spoon, smiling crookedly.

"Nowhere," he mumbled, slightly confused, "Did I sleep three weeks?"

Cloud made a face and turned to scramble the eggs before they burned.

"I don't think so…" he mused.

Before he could say anything else, a plateful of bacon, eggs and toast was shoved under his nose by a smiling SOLDIER…SOLDIER!

"You got your mako shot," he pointed out a bit colder than he wanted. He remembered his own: the white-walled lab, the cold table, the _huge_ needle, and the pain. And then there was Hojo's smile.

Cloud winced too when he heard that. He subconsciously rubbed a spot on his left arm, like it was itching.

"Yeah, on Monday. You never told me-" he began.

"How much it hurts. I know. I'm sorry."

He remembered telling himself, weeks before the exam, that he'd be there for the first injection. It had completely slipped his mind with all that had happened during the exam, and now he felt his stomach flip and twist so much that he no longer felt any hunger. But he ate some anyway, because Cloud had made it for him…

"It's fine. They anticipated it, so they barricaded the door to the labs so you couldn't get in. Oh," he gasped all of a sudden, "I saw Hojo. I'd heard about it but…" he frowned, "was it necessary?"

"It was." He smiled fondly at the memory, Hojo's screams echoing in his head.

"I'll leave."

Sephiroth froze with his fork half sticking in his mouth. He knew he couldn't have heard correctly, and set the fork down slowly. Cloud looked so…serious, but sad at the same time. He was wringing his hands in his pyjama bottoms, looking anywhere but directly at the General. His eyes were as brilliantly blue as usual, but swimming with salty, unshed tears.

"Pardon?" he cleared his throat.

"If I make you lose control like that, I'll disappear from your life! It's…I mean…you're the General, you can't afford to lose your head. Besides, I'm just…you know, trouble for you. Genesis…he said that too - that I was bad for you. He's right…"

_Genesis._ His eyebrow twitched. Why did the commander insist on ruining his life? Was it a hobby? (**A/N: Bad Genesis…**) A passion, an interest, something he thrived on? He even went as far as to put this garbage in the head of the only person he loved. Probably smiled when he said it too.

"I really wanted to meet you, and Zack knew, and he – kindof – set us up. I'm glad for that, really, but…I'm just a 3rd class SOLDIER, no more than a nobody. I'm not-"

Both angry and sad, the General reached over the counter and grabbed the back of his lover's head, pulling him over and kissing him hard on the lips, effectively shutting him up. He might have wanted to a little bit as well…When he pulled back, the tears were gone from Cloud's eyes and the pain had been replaced by uncertainty.

"Don't say stupid things like that again, understand?" he commanded without a blink, never looking away from those eyes.

"It's not stupid," his lover huffed.

"I'm going to be General whether I lose my temper over your tormentors or not, because without me Shinra is just…an electric company. Nobody can run the military like I can," he smirked while talking, "And please ignore Genesis. He's not correct in the head, Cloud."

Cloud smiled a little at that and began eating his own – and now very cold – breakfast. Sephiroth watched him eta, getting an odd feeling of satisfaction to know that Cloud was eating his food, which he had provided. He thought about getting him a present for no reason if only to have him happy.

"To tell you the truth, I really didn't want to have to…you know…" he blushed brightly, "leave."

"You'll never have to," Sephiroth assured him as he dumped the dirty dishes into the sink. He was glad it hadn't escalated into a fight of some kind…


End file.
